


Crawling Out Through the Fallout

by OperaPhantom



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, British Robots, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Explicit Language, Fallout 4 Spoilers, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Bad At Titles, Mild Language, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Robot Detective, Spoilers, Teen Sole Survivor - Freeform, Teenage Sole Survivor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2018-05-07 14:25:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 51,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5459705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OperaPhantom/pseuds/OperaPhantom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Irene Tanya Whittaker is 17 when the bombs fall and interrupt the lives of her, her dad, and her baby brother, lives already upset after her mother's death. When she wakes up after 200 years to find her brother missing, her dad dead, and the world changed, she fights to survive and adapt. She fights to find her baby brother. She fights to avenge her dad. She faces the struggles of a new world with new friends and allies, and tries to do her best in this post-apocalyptic fallout.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. As The Bombs Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> Thank you for reading! I'll be updating this as I continue further in Fallout 4. This is my first fanfic, so critiques and constructive criticism are always welcome!

 

Amber eyes gaze at wine red lips with a scar underneath, arched brows, a constellation of freckles across her face. Her jet black hair is in a bun, and she smiles at herself in the mirror. Her terra-cotta skin looked harsh in the bathroom lights, but she knew it would look better outside. _Not_ _too shabby_ , she thinks.

“Irene Tanya Whittaker, how long does it take to fix your hair?” Irene smiled at her dad standing in the bathroom doorway. She can see the smile in his eyes, so she knows he's not mad.

“I'm done, Dad. Bathroom's all yours.” Nate hugged his step-daughter as she walked past.

“Thanks, sweetheart. You look beautiful. I think your latest Grognak comic came today, so check with Codsworth. Just don't forget to be ready for tonight.” Nate smiled absently at his teenaged step-daughter, thinking about tonight.

Irene smiles as she walks into the kitchen to be greeted by Codsworth.

“Ah, good day Miss Irene! Your copy of Grognak the Barbarian came today, and it is on the island. I also have a nicely chilled Nuka-Cola at exactly 35.6 degrees Fahrenheit ready for you.”

“Thanks Codsworth, you're the best!” She smiles as she grabs her comic and her soda. Irene loves the Mr. Handy her dad got. After her mom died, she'd been doing most of the chores, but she had her school as well. Her dad helped out when he could, but he had his job and the veteran's association stuff. Codsworth had been a surprise, but everyone had quickly grown fond of him.

“Don't forget the veteran's association family party tonight, Miss. Your father has been looking forward to it for ages.”

Irene smiles, knowing she'd never forget. Ever since her dad got involved with the veteran's association, he wanted to create something for their families as well. There were little things that involved them, but nothing to get them communicating and connecting. This would be the first time every veteran would be bringing their family, spouses and kids. This event was her dad's pride and joy, and she wouldn't miss it for the world. Suddenly, she heard Shaun crying from his crib.

“Oh dear, sounds like someone made a stinky! I shall attend to young Master Shaun.” Codsworth floated off down the hallway, passing Nate.

“I'm glad we got Codsworth. He's been a real help, and now you can concentrate on school instead of on taking care of the house and Shaun.”

“Yeah, he's great. My grades picked up, and now I have to start looking at which law school I want to attend.”

Nate smiles at his step-daughter.

“Going to be a lawyer like your mother, hmm? You'll do great. You're smart as a whip, just like her, and I can still remember all the times your teachers called me in because you talked circles around them.”

 

The doorbell rang, and Irene could see the Vault-Tec salesman at their door again. She sighed, not really wanting to deal with the guy's pushiness. Opening the door, the Vault-Tec salesman greeted her.

“Good morning, isn't it a lovely day? I just wanted to let you know that you've been pre-approved for Vault 111!”

“Pre-approved? Why?”

“Based on the record of your step-father's military service to his country, he, yourself, and your brother have all been pre-approved. You're prepared for the future!”

“What about Codsworth, our Mr. Handy robot?”

“Vault-Tec ensures that the Vaults have all the comforts and amenities you require. Due to limited space, your robot will not be allowed to join you. Don't worry, there will be plenty of other robots to help you!”

The salesman gave a too-cheery, too-big grin. Irene thanked him, and he went off down the street. _Well, at least we got it out of the way,_ Irene thought.

 

Shaun's crying grew louder, and they heard Codsworth call her.

“Miss Irene, I have changed young Master Shaun, but he will not calm down. I think he needs some of that 'sisterly affection' that you are so good at providing.”

“All right Codsworth, I'll look in on him,” she said, walking to Shaun's room.Shaun looked up at her from his crib, gurgling and crying.

“There, there, it's ok little guy.”

Shaun grabbed her finger, smiling up at her, and started cooing.

“My little guy isn't giving his big sister any trouble, is he?” Nate wandered into the room. Irene smiled at her dad.

“Nope, he's a good guy, just like you, dad.”

Nate smiled at his two children, and gave Irene a hug. Then he picked up Shaun and kissed his head.

“Sir? Miss Irene? I think you should come and see this!”

Codsworth's panicked voice called to them from the living room. Curious, they both walked into the living room, Nate still holding Shaun, just in time to catch the TV news anchor talking about nuclear detonations in the cities. Sirens started blaring, and they heard screaming outside.

“Run to the Vault!” Nate pushed Irene through the door, still carrying Shaun in his arms.

“Goodbye Codsworth! I'll miss you!” Irene hugged the Mr. Handy they'd all grown so fond of.

“Goodbye Miss Irene, goodbye Sir, goodbye young Master Shaun!” Codsworth waved one of his arms at them as they ran down the street. There was a man in uniform directing people up the hill to the Vault. When they reached the gate, they saw the Vault-Tec salesman arguing with the military at the gate.

“But I am Vault-Tec! I'm going in there and you can't stop me!”

The salesman drew back as a soldier in power armor threatened him with a gun. Irene pushed forward to the uniformed officer.

“We need to get in! We're on the list!”

“One adult male, one teenaged female, one infant. Yeah, you can go in.”

They ran past the officer to a giant elevator platform. All around them people were screaming, yelling, and panicking, trying to get into the vault before another detonation. As the elevator went down, they heard a blast and saw the mushroom cloud go up. They could see the blast's shockwave hurtling towards them, and then the elevator dropped down, down, down.

 

Coughing and in shock, they saw a bright light past the grate surrounding the elevator. A man standing on a platform spoke to them.

“Welcome to Vault 111. Please make your way in an orderly fashion.”

Nate pushed Irene to the front, following with Shaun in his arms. They went onto a walkway, and got Vault 111 jumpsuits. A Vault-Tec doctor told them to follow him, and they walked down a long hallway to a room full of…. pods of some sort. Irene shivered in the chill air, wondering what these things were.

“Please change into your jumpsuits and step into the decontamination pod. This will cleanse and depressurize you before we head further into the Vault.”

Irene hugged her dad, and kissed Shaun's head to quiet him.

“Don't worry, your big sister will be right across the way. I'll see you soon little guy.”

Nate hugged his daughter and kissed the top of her head.

“Don't worry sweetheart, everything is going to be okay.”

Irene put on her jumpsuit and got into her decontamination pod. She was surprised by how chilly it was. She could see her dad and Shaun right across from her, and she smiled and waved at them. As her dad smiled back, she heard a mechanical voice saying,

“Occupant vitals normal. Procedure completed in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….”

 

“Manual pod override. Cryogenic stasis suspended.”

She woke up, coughing and wondering what was going on. Everything outside the pod was dimly lit, no doctors or anyone else she could see. She could hear muffled voices outside her pod, and saw two people walk over to her dad's pod. One was completely covered in some sort of hazmat suit. The other person didn't look like he belonged there. He was tall, with some sort of metal and leather armor. His head was shaved, but he had black stubble and a scar over one eye. The suited person spoke.

“This is the one here.”

“Open it.”

Irene shivered at the sound of the man's voice, rough and cold. She saw the door of her dad's pod open, and heard him ask,

“Is everything okay? Are we all right?”

The suited woman tried to take Shaun, while the man in leather stood by.

“Let the kid go, now. I'm not going to tell you again.”

“No! I'm not letting you take Shaun!”

A gunshot rang out, a loud scream echoed in Irene's ears, and her dad slumped in his pod. She realized that she was the one screaming. She started banging on the door of her pod.

“Dammit, take the kid and get out of here,” The man in leather stared at Irene, “At least we still have back-up.”

“Cryogenic sequence reinitialized. Procedure completed in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….”

 

“Warning. Malfunction in the cryogenic array. All Vault residents must evacuate.” The pod opened and Irene fell out onto the floor, coughing and gasping. She felt numb and weak, and for a few minutes she could only lay on the floor. The mechanical voice continued repeating the same phrase over and over again. When she was strong enough, she remembered what had happened. Pushing herself across the floor, she pulled herself up using the handles of Nate's pod. She saw the control panel on the side, and flipped the open switch.

“Please no, please no, please no,” she kept whispering over and over. The clunk of the locks releasing was followed by the pneumatic hiss of the door opening, and she could barely look. She wanted to look, but she also didn't want to look. If she didn't look, maybe she would hear her dad's voice, or her baby brother's crying. Maybe she would feel her dad pull her into a hug, and feel Shaun's breath on her cheek. But she heard nothing other than the robotic voice repeating it's warning, felt nothing but the cold air pouring from the pod. She opened her eyes, and screamed her pain. She could see the frozen blood caked around the gunshot wound on her dad's head, the spatters crystallized around the pod. He was frozen in a slumped position, his eyes still open. Tears fell from Irene's eyes and she fell to her knees, sobbing. Looking up at her dad, she saw his wedding ring, the one he'd kept wearing even after her mother had died. Pulling it off of his frozen hand, she reached for the chain he had kept her mother's on around his neck. Taking it off of him, she added his ring to it and put the necklace on.

 

“I'll find whoever did this. I'll find the people who took Shaun and ki… ki…. killed you, I promise. I love you, Daddy.”

Irene got up, wiped the tears from her eyes, and stumbled over to the door. She could see the other Vault residents in closed pods, not open like hers. She figured that must be part of the malfunction. Was she the only one to survive? Shaking her head, she took a deep breath. She couldn't think about that now or she would fall apart. Reaching the door controls, she took another deep breath, opened the door, and stepped out into the rest of the Vault.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even though we don't see exactly where the Nate/Nora gets shot, I'm going with head wound because of the pretty much instant death. And head wounds aren't pretty, so the description reflects that. I also imagine that being thawed out can be a pretty disorienting experience, and that the person might have trouble with their muscles working.  
> Also, in my story, Nate is Irene's step-father. He's the only father she's ever known though, and she knows he isn't her biological father, but she considers him her dad.


	2. Escaping Vault 111

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After seeing her father killed and her brother kidnapped, Irene decides to leave Vault 111 and find her baby brother. What awaits her as she escapes to the surface?

She stepped out into a long hallway, the one they walked through when they first entered the Vault. She went through a door on her left, and found herself in another pod chamber, with more dead occupants. _Oh God, why? Why would Vault-Tec do this?_

She quickly exited, and found another door further down. Down the stairs, she found the security office. Spotting a shadow, she turned and thought she saw a giant cockroach. Deciding to arm herself, she took a spare security baton. _It couldn't be a cockroach, they don't get as big as a small dog. It's just my imagination playing tricks on me._ Down another hallway, she wished it had been. She came face to face with the creepy, oversized bug. It charged her, but a downward smash of her baton took care of it. She grimaced at the crunching noise it made, though she was glad it was dead.

Opening the next door, she found herself in the reactor area. Another roach saw her, and started to charge through the reactor when the electricity arced and fried it. _Better stay on the walkways_. As she continued around, she killed two more roaches. _Really? Giant cockroaches? What is going on here?_ She kept killing more roaches, until she reached the Overseer's office. On the floor was a skeleton in a lab coat. _Oh God, what happened here? How long has it been since we were frozen?_ She found a 10mm pistol and took it, along with some ammunition. She looked through the Overseer's things, and found some more ammo. Using his terminal, she opened an escape tunnel. She saw a gun locked in a case, but it was too difficult to pick. Continuing through the tunnel, she killed more roaches. Opening another door, she stepped into the room where they first entered the Vault. She saw three more skeletons, one of which had a broken arm. On its wrist there was a Pip-Boy.

“I'm really sorry about this, but I'm going to need it more than you do.”

Taking the Pip-Boy, she put it on her wrist and closed the latch. Turning it on, she was grateful that it worked. Using her new Pip-Boy, she opened the Vault door.

“Opening sequence initiated. Please stand back.”

The giant Vault door opened, and she was blinded by the bright light from the elevator. Running down the stairs, she stepped onto the elevator. The mechanical voice came back on, saying, “Enjoy your return to the surface, and thank you for choosing Vault-Tec.”


	3. Exit the Vault, Enter Sanctuary Hills

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irene exits the Vault, and is shocked at how the world looks. She decides to head to Sanctuary; maybe there is still someone left?

The elevator surged upwards, creaking and groaning so much that Irene wondered if it was still safe. Sunlight peeked over the edge of the hole, blinding her. Blinking to clear her eyes, Irene gasped in horror. The trees were dead and brown, stripped of all their leaves. The ground was hard, dry, and cracked. The wind blew up little whirls of dust, swirling around Irene's feet. Debris littered the site, and there were skeletons, still dressed in the tattered remains of their clothes, all around her. The machinery was rusted, as were all the containers and trailers. She tore her eyes away from the sight, wondering, Is there anything left? Did the bombs do all of this, or has more time passed by than I think? Is home even still there? As her thoughts touched on her home, Irene fixated on it, and ran down the path to get there. Splashing through the stream at the bottom of the hill, she smiled. There's still some water, it can't be all bad. Checking her Pip-Boy, she saw that there was a radio station called Diamond City Radio. Switching to that, she heard the Ink Spots.

She climbed up the earthen ledge to her backyard. Reaching her front yard, she saw Codsworth puttering about. She smiled even bigger at seeing him.  
“Codsworth!”  
“Miss Irene! As I live and breathe, it's really you!”  
The Mr. Handy turned and floated over to her, joy evident in his voice.  
“Oh Miss Irene, I'm so glad to see you! It's an absolute joy! How is Master Nate and young Master Shaun?”  
Irene started; in her joy at seeing Codsworth, she had pushed what happened from her mind. Her voice became very small and broken.  
“My father, he… he… he's gone, Codsworth, he's gone. They killed him,” her voice took on a manic, hopeful tone, “Maybe you saw them? They had armor, and, and guns, and they had Shaun with them!”  
“Miss Irene, these dreadful things can't be true. You must be suffering from hunger-induced paranoia. You're 200 years late for dinner after all!”  
Irene's strength failed her, and she sat down hard on the ground, her eyes wide in shock and disbelief.  
“200 years? It can't be… You must be wrong Codsworth!”  
“You are correct miss, it's a bit over 210 years, give or take some minor dings to the old chronometer and factoring in the Earth's rotation.”  


Irene looked at Codsworth; he was just too cheerful, even though cheerful was his normal default. Reaching up to rest her hand on his slightly rusty metal plating, she gently asked, “Codsworth, are you okay?”  
“Of course, I…. I…. Oh Miss Irene, it's been horrible!” She could hear the sobs in his voice. “It's been horrible, with no one to cook for, to clean for, no one to look after! I spent the first ten years trying to wax the floors, but nothing gets nuclear fallout out of them! Then there is the futility of dusting a collapsed house. And the car! The car! How do you polish rust? When the bombs came, and you all left and never came back, I thought you were dead.”  
As Codsworth went on, Irene realized just how horrible it must have been for him. He was made and programmed to serve people and help them, to cook, clean, and generally look after them. Then all of a sudden, he didn't have anyone to help. He was all alone, for over 200 years. He was rusting, and dented, when he'd taken so much pride in his shiny appearance before…  
“Now, enough feeling sorry for myself. Let us go search for Sir and young Master Shaun. They may turn up yet!”  
Irene remembered the size of the cockroaches, and asked, “Is there anything dangerous out here? Should I be worried?”  
“Oh no, Miss Irene. There's just Ms. Rosa's boy running around in his Halloween costume, more than a week early I might add. The nerve of that woman!”  
Irene was skeptical, but maybe the cockroaches only got so big because of something in the Vault. She shrugged; she had the baton and the pistol, plus what weapons Codsworth could use, so she might as well get moving.  
“All right Codsworth, lead the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first update in over a year! I'm so sorry that it took so long. Life has just been so crazy, but it's finally starting to settle down. I don't have an update schedule for this; it will be updated whenever I finish a new chapter. I'm still in college and just started a new job, so I'll be writing whenever I have time. Subscribe and you'll be notified when I update! Thanks for waiting, and comments are always appreciated!


	4. Red Rocket Blasting Off Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irene and Codsworth look around Sanctuary. When Irene realizes that she doesn't understand this world, and that her only companion is a robot who's in denial, she decides to find more people. What other dangers await this determined young woman in the radioactive wasteland?  
> *******************************************************************************************************************************************  
> I just wanted to mention that I don't have a beta, so any mistakes in here are my own. If you see something that's wrong, please let me know so that I can fix it. Enjoy!

Codsworth floated off towards the cul-de-sac, and Irene followed him. He veered off to the right, into one of the blue houses. Irene remembered that the people there had only recently moved in. Now everything was falling down, and dirt was everywhere. Some of the houses, like this one and her own, were still standing. Others had completely fallen down, and were just piles of scrap. A breeze blew through, stirring leaves and dead grass. 

As Codsworth and she made their way into the house, Irene heard a rustling noise. It was different than the grass and leaves rustling, a harder sound. She could swear that she heard buzzing, too. She pulled out the baton, and made sure her pistol was loaded and ready. As Codsworth floated in through the entrance, his arms went up; his saw blade whirred to life, and his flamethrower sputtered on. Three giant, flying bugs buzzed towards them.  
“Don't worry, Miss Irene, we'll beat those bugs!”  
Irene quickly pulled out her pistol and shot two of the bugs. They exploded, bits and pieces of them showering on the ground. Codsworth roasted the last with his flamethrower, then cut it in half with his saw.  
“Hmmm, no sign of Master Nate or young Master Shaun here!”  
“What were those things, Codsworth? They looked like flies, but they were huge!”  
“Nothing to worry about, Miss Irene. We dispatched the vermin.”  
Codsworth floated back out of the house, and on down the street. Irene followed him. He may have been in denial about a few things, but it was still better than wandering around alone. As they went down the street, Codsworth floated into another house. Irene readied her pistol. She heard a skittering, clicking noise from inside. It sounded like the cockroaches from the Vault. Codsworth didn't even make it to the doorway before they exploded from the house. Irene fired three shots, and killed the three cockroaches before they got to her. Then another one burst from a pile of dead leaves in the street. It leaped towards Irene before she could turn around. It scratched her with its pincers; there was more weight behind the blow than she had anticipated, and she stumbled backwards. She managed to let off another shot, and she killed it.

Irene took a breath, and sat down on the curb. She was worried; if the bugs had gotten that big, did the other creatures grow too? How much did they grow? She didn't know if she could handle a giant cat, or a huge bee. She was allergic to bee stings anyway- oh no, what would happen if she got stung now?

Codsworth floated over, his arms limp.  
“Miss Irene, your… your family, they aren't here. They're… they're really gone, aren't they?” Codsworth's voice cracked, and Irene could here sobs in his voice again. She reached out and touched the robot gently.  
“Just because they aren't here doesn't mean they aren't alive. We just have to look elsewhere to find them.”  
Codsworth sniffled, then straightened up back into his usual demeanor.  
“You're quite right. Stiff upper lip!”  
“Are there any people left, Codsworth?”  
“Oh yes, indeed there are, Miss Irene! Just over in Concord, actually. They only ever shot at me a few times. Shall we head there, Miss?”  
Irene thought about it. While she was happy to know that there were still people, Codsworth said that they had shot at him. Were they friendly, or unfriendly? Would they shoot her? If Codsworth was shot, he was just dented a bit. If she was shot, she would bleed, and she didn't know what medicine was like in this time. She didn't want to get wounded and then have it get infected. On the other hand, if the people there were friendly, then they might be able to help her. This was a brand new world, and yet parts of it were so similar to what she remembered. Complacency and nostalgia wouldn't help her though; she'd heard a few stories from her dad about soldiers who had gotten too comfortable in their surroundings, and had ended up dead. She didn't want to die. She wanted to find her baby brother, and she wanted vengeance for her dad, the only dad she'd known.

Her mind made up, she stood up from the curb.  
“Well Codsworth, let's head to Concord.” She walked forward, towards the old wooden bridge that connected Sanctuary Hills to the other side of the river. Part of it had been destroyed, but it still looked like it would hold. Walking carefully around that part of the bridge, she saw a dead body on the other side of the bridge, along with some animal. It looked like it might have been a dog? It didn't really have any fur, just leather-like skin. It did have fangs though, along with pointed ears and a snout that looked like a dogs.

In the hand of the dead person, there was a metal object. She bent down, and saw that it was a tire iron. They wouldn't need it anymore, and it would be a little more sturdy than the security baton… She grabbed it. After further reflection, she took the belt the corpse as well.  
“Sorry, but I need this more than you.” Irene buckled on the belt, and slipped her new tire iron through one of the loops. The belt also had a holster that fit her pistol, more or less, so she transferred it there from the pocket of her suit. She also put the ammo into a couple of the pouches on it.  
“Come on Codsworth, we're done here.”  
On down the road she walked, with Codsworth floating behind her. The road was cracked and broken, sometimes with huge chunks missing. The guard rails were rusty, and some were missing. Everything was brown, and she didn't know if it was dead, or if that's just what plants looked like now. 

As they got closer to the Red Rocket, Irene heard… Was that barking? Irene slipped her pistol out; she didn't know if this was a friendly or unfriendly animal. She crouched down low, and inched forward. In the front of the Red Rocket was a big dog. It saw her, and barked at her, wagging its tail. Irene smiled; this was a friendly dog. She put her pistol back and walked forward. The dog's tongue lolled out of its open mouth, and its tail was still wagging back and forth.  
“Hey boy, what are you doing here?” Irene knelt and scratched the dog's behind his ears and under his chin. “Are you all alone, or do you have someone looking after you?”

All of a sudden, she heard a rumbling sound. The dog growled low.  
“Miss Irene, look out!”  
Irene pulled out her pistol just as some giant pink things burst from the ground. They charged her and the dog. The dog charged forward at them, his teeth bared. Codsworth was dealing with two that had attacked him, his flame thrower and saw stretched in front of him. Irene could smell cooking meat, and a coppery, metallic smell. She put her pistol in her pocket, and pulled the tire iron out. One of the pink things leaped towards her, its giant teeth seeking her arm. She swung the tire iron with both hands. It connected solidly with the head of the creature; she heard its skull crunch, felt it give way under the hard metal, and saw the blood on her weapon. She hadn't seen that much blood before. The metallic smell grew stronger, and she realized it was the smell of fresh blood. It enveloped her, filling her nose completely, the red brighter than anything else she saw, and she felt a sour taste coming up in the back of her throat.

Then she felt a sharp pain ripping through her right leg. She swung the tire iron, connecting with another pink creature, only managing to stun it this time. Irene looked down. It had bit her leg. Luckily she couldn't see the bone through the injury, but she did see a lot of blood dripping down. She swung again at the creature's head, and crushed it. She pulled out her pistol, and shot the final remaining creature. Codsworth and the dog had taken care of the rest.  
“Miss Irene, you're injured!” Codsworth floated over to her, the worry plainly evident in his voice. “Shall I fetch you a stimpak? I can see a first aid kit just over there by the gas pump.”  
Irene nodded, and Codsworth floated over to get it. He handed it to her, and she injected the chemicals just above her injury. Her leg numbed, and she saw the wound start to regenerate. Now that the fight was over, she could she that her jumpsuit had two holes where the creature had bitten her, and there was blood soaking the fabric around the wound. She grimaced. Suddenly, there was a stream of water pouring down her leg; Codsworth was hosing down her injury.  
“It will take me a while to replenish my reserves of purified water, but I didn't want dirt to get in your injury, Miss Irene.”  
She smiled at the robot, who had done his best to take care of her since she showed up.  
“Thanks, Codsworth.”

Irene looked around. Like everything else she'd seen so far, this place was rusty and decrepit. She decided to head in the building, and see what was around. Maybe there was something she could use? She headed inside, and checked the cash register. There was a lot of money left in it, and she saw some Nuka-Cola caps in there as well. She grabbed everything. If everything had gone to hell, like it looked so far, than there might be a barter system. If so, then the metal from the bottle caps could be useful. Checking some drawers, she found four more stimpaks, some more cash, and some other chems. While she didn't want them, they could be useful to trade, and they were light and easy to carry as well. She also found a backpack the carry her extra supplies in.  
“Pardon me, Miss Irene?” Codsworth floated in towards her, his mechanical arms slowly waving about uncertainly. “I… I do want you to be safe, but I was wondering…”  
Irene smiled gently at the robot; he'd always been a rather nervous and gentle personality, and he was a Mr. Handy, not a Mister Gutsy.  
“Why don't you head back home, Codsworth? I've got the dog, and we'll be fine.”  
“Are you sure, Miss Irene? I can accompany you if you wish…”  
“Everything will be fine. Concord's not that far anyway. I'll come back after that.”  
“As you wish, Miss Irene. I shall wait for you back home.” Codsworth floated away, back towards Sanctuary Hills. The dog barked at Irene, and wagged his tail. She smiled at him, and petted his head.  
“Well, boy, let's get moving.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapters are getting a bit longer! Yay! Or not yay, if you like short chapters. I just couldn't find a good way to break this one up.
> 
> A couple notes on stuff that comes up in the story: Codsworth would NOT let a teenager wander the around alone. Not only is he programmed to look after people, he also cares about Irene in his own, robot way. But he's no Mister Gutsy either. So he only accompanies her until they meet Dogmeat. And like the game, Dogmeat will be referred to as variants of "the dog" until Mama Murphy tells Irene his name.
> 
> The belt and backpack are there because how the heck would she carry all the stuff with just a Vault Suit? She could fit the pistol and some ammo in her pockets, but otherwise that thing is practically skin-tight. So backpack.
> 
> A note on stimpaks: Stimpaks are used in-game to heal. They act as a health potion does in a fantasy. But how would that work in the real world? In this story, stimpaks very rapidly accelerate the healing process of the body, act as a localized painkiller, and sterilizes the injury. Think Wolverine's healing factor in a syringe. They don't work for broken bones or really serious injuries, but they work for most of the common injuries you get in the Wasteland.
> 
> And for all of you wondering why she's LEAVING SO MUCH SALVAGE, she doesn't understand how this world works yet. She prepares for a barter system, but it hasn't hit her yet just how MUCH society and culture is different from what she remembers. After she meets Preston and the others, and heads back to Sanctuary, she'll go back for all of that stuff.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and comments and feedback are always welcome!


	5. Concord Carnage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irene and the dog head to Concord, where they help out some trapped strangers. As more attackers descend, Irene takes a stand with her new allies.

Irene and the dog headed down the hill towards Concord. They passed abandoned, rusted vehicles. Irene wondered if all the land was this desolate. Everything looked brown, and dead. The dog softly woofed up at her, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he padded along beside her. She patted his head. He looked like a German Shepherd, and she'd always wanted one of those when she was a kid. Even though everything looked like it had gone to hell, she would try and find bits of happiness where she could. She knew that she'd go crazy if she didn't; she couldn't focus on vengeance all the time, she just wasn't built that way.

As they got closer to Concord, the dog's ears pricked up. Irene stopped and looked at him.  
“What is it, boy?”  
The dog whined slightly, and crouched down low to the ground. Irene followed suit, and they inched forward. She felt slightly silly following a dog, but something was telling her it was a good idea. Most of the buildings were boarded up, or looked abandoned. Then she heard gunshots and yelling coming from further in the town. She realized that the dog must have heard them before she did, and she didn't feel silly anymore. He probably saved them from blindly walking into a firefight. They crept forward slowly, and Irene saw a group of people shooting at the Museum of Freedom. They looked strange; they had a lot of what looked like armor, but she couldn't be certain. It was mostly bits of metal and leather.

Irene looked closer at the museum, and she realized that they were shooting at someone on the upper balcony. They were wearing a big hat, and were sheltering behind cover when they weren't shooting back, so she couldn't see what they looked like. From what the people out here were shouting though, about killing them and worse, Irene thought she should help them.  
“Hey boy, let's take 'em out quietly. Wait until I'm over there, then you attack that one.”  
The dog whuffed quietly, and slunk off to get closer to the shooter she'd pointed out. Irene kept low, and snuck over behind a wall. She could get a good shot of most of the shooters from here. Seeing the dog, he saw her. She nodded, and he attacked the shooter closest to him, growling and barking loudly.  
“Hey, what the hell is this mutt doin'?”

Using the targeting system on her Pip-Boy, Irene brought down two of the shooters with shots to the torso. The person on the balcony aimed their laser rifle… It was aimed at her! She threw herself down on the ground, and the person fired. Someone behind her cried out; someone had snuck up behind her, and the person on the balcony had shot them. Bullets whizzed past her as the shooters figured out her position. She could hear the dog's growls and barks, but he wasn't whimpering, so she hoped that he wasn't hurt too badly. One of the armored people ran towards her, a baseball bat in their hands and ready to swing. Before they could reach her, Irene fired twice at their head, and they went down. Two others started firing at her, and she ducked behind a wall. When there was a lull in the shots, she leaned out. She aimed for one of the shooters, who was leaning around a corner, and let off two shots. One hit their torso, the other went through their head. The last shooter was very foolishly standing in the middle of the street, out in the open. The dog bit their leg, causing them to scream and hit him hard several times with some bladed weapon. He let go, whimpering away in pain, blood dripping from his wounds.

Irene saw red. These monsters had trapped at least two people in the museum; these monsters shouted about torturing and killing them in brutal, horrendous, cruel ways, and about what they'd do after their victims were dead; these monsters had hurt her dog; these monsters looked like the man who'd killed her dad and kidnapped Shaun. Her face hard, she aimed her pistol, and let off three shots at the head of the person who'd hurt the dog. All three hit, and their head exploded into red mist and chunks of flesh, bone, and brain matter.

The dog whimpered again, struggling to stand and unable to. Irene ran over, digging through her bag. She didn't know if stimpaks worked on dogs, but she was going to take that chance. She pulled one out, and injected the healing chemicals into the dog. Just like her wound from the pink creature at the Red Rocket, the dog's wounds started to heal. He woofed at her, licking her hands and face, a big doggy smile on his face.  
“I'm so glad you're okay, boy,” she said as she hugged him. She couldn't stand it if he'd died, not so soon after her dad, after losing Shaun, she couldn't lose her dog too.  
“Are you okay down there?”  
Irene looked up; the person on the balcony had called down to her.  
“You and that dog handled yourselves pretty well. There's more raiders inside, and I've got civilians I'm protecting in here. If you could help us, we really need it. Grab that laser musket and the power cells, and go through the front door.”  
Irene realized the person was a man.  
“Who are you? How many shooters are there?”  
“There's about ten, maybe a couple less. I can't talk more, they're trying to break down the door!”  
The man disappeared from the balcony, and she heard muffled shouting and shots from inside. The man had said there were civilians in there. If the shooters – the man had called them raiders – were anything like the people out here, they would show no mercy if they got in. Her mind made up, Irene looked at the dog.  
“Come on boy. We've got people to save.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Irene comes to really, REALLY hate the raiders. She hated bullies before the War, and the raiders are the bullies of the Commonwealth.  
> Also, V.A.T.S., when it appears in this story, won't be gone over in much detail. I honestly don't know how it would work out in real life.  
> For anyone wondering how Irene is a decent shot, Nate taught her how to use and care for guns, from pistols, to hunting rifles, to laser guns. He used it as bonding time with Irene, not knowing it would help her in the Wasteland.


	6. Fight at the Museum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irene enters the museum to help the people trapped inside. She's prepared to fight, but how much will the fight take out of her?
> 
> There is explicit language in this chapter, as will most chapters that have raiders in them. Raiders swear a lot.

Before she headed into the museum, Irene took a few moments to look at the dead attackers. Her suit was thin, and the people she'd killed had armor. As she got closer to some of the corpses, she saw that there were women among them. One was close to her own size, and she had what looked like a full set of leather armor. She took the armor, and put it on. There was a leather chest piece, some leather leg pieces, and leather arm armor. Most of the dead attackers had some kind of gun; it looked like it was made of wood, metal pipe, wire, and screws. It looked homemade, and not completely safe. She grabbed them though, because they weren't that big or heavy, and she could probably trade them later on. She also searched the corpses for ammunition; most of it was for the homemade guns she'd found, but she also found some for her 10mm pistol. She also found stimpaks, some more chems, and most of them had Nuka-Cola bottle caps in their pockets. Irene didn't know why, but since all of them had some amount of them, they were probably important. She kept them, putting them in an inside pocket of her backpack. 

Satisfied for now, she headed inside the museum. She and the dog kept low, and snuck in through the door. There were a lot of shooters; she could see four just from where she was, and she heard others in other parts of the building.  
“All right boy, let's keep low and slow. Sneaky and stealthy is best.”  
The dog quietly whuffed in response. They both kept down on the ground, and they went through the door on their right. It led to a hallway, and rooms that showed events at the beginning of the American Revolution in Boston. There were motion activated lights that turned on as they crept through; Irene stayed on guard, because she didn't know if there were shooters in the next room. She and the dog snuck through the rooms, but there were no raiders. At the end, they entered into a large foyer, with a large staircase leading to the other floors. She could see two shooters there, on the second floor out in the open. Their backs were to her. They didn't see her. Using the targeting system on her Pip-Boy, she aimed five shots at their heads; she didn't like the gore, but she wanted these people dead and head shots were the best, and quickest, way to ensure that. Two shots missed the first target, but the third shot got him straight through the head. The second target turned towards her, but the next two shots also hit their head. Both people dropped, and didn't get up.

Bullets whizzed past Irene into the woodwork, and she dove to her right, up the stairs.  
“Asshole! Just give up already,” yelled a rough, masculine voice at her. She reloaded her pistol, she didn't want to run out of ammo while shooting, and tried to see where the person was. They weren't firing at her now, which meant that they couldn't see her. The left side of the room had a clear view of her, so they weren't there. They had to be on the right side, like she was, but a higher floor. Since she was on the second floor, they had to be on the third floor. Bullets poured into the staircase on her left, missing her by over two feet. Were they even trying to aim?  
“Just come out so's I can kill ya, fuckin' bitch!”

Irene couldn't see any stairs leading up to the third floor, but there was a door to her right. She motioned to the dog, and they crept through the doorway.  
“Why are we standin' around here while the other guys get all the fun?”  
“Shut the fuck up. Gristle said to wait here, so we wait. Do you want to make him angry?”  
“Nah, I remember what he did to Scorpion. Made 'im scream for days before killin' him.”  
“Exactly, genius. So we stay here and wait!”

It sounded like there were only two people in the other room. Irene looked around the room; was there anything she could use to clear them out? There. By a pile of cinder blocks, there was an ammunition box. She crept over, slowly unlatched it, and eased open the lid. Inside the box were three grenades. There was also two glass bottles, with some sort of liquid in them and rags stuffed in the top. She didn't know what those were, but they looked useful. She grabbed them and the grenades. Motioning to the dog to stay back, she crept forward a little way down the hallway. She could see shadows against the wall; there were only two of them. She activated the grenade and threw it, then scuttled back and covered her ears. It bounced against the back wall and into the room where the others were.  
“What the- Grenade!”

There was a thunderous boom, and a flash of light. Irene could hear the explosion even with her ears covered. She crept forward, pistol ready. She didn't need it. The two guards were dead. One had gotten shrapnel in their head, and wasn't moving. The other had their right arm and leg blown off; they were breathing heavily, and then they stopped. Irene checked their pulses, and found them both dead.  
“Sorry.” The soft word escaped her before she could stop it. They might have been monsters, ready to kill civilians for no reason, but she was still responsible for their deaths. She didn't want to kill them, but she didn't have a choice.

The dog whined softly, and butted her limp hand. She looked at him; he licked her face. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she buried her face in his fur, tears leaking from her eyes. Why did she have to kill? The dog rested his head on her shoulder. His hot breath made her hair stir slightly. They stayed like that for a few moments, the lost girl out of time finding solace with the friendly dog. 

Irene stood up and wiped away her tears. It wasn't so much that she had killed them, it was that she had to kill at all. She didn't like killing. Now, she felt she understood better why her dad hadn't talked much about the war. Violence and death were hell. Taking a deep breath, she searched the corpses for more ammunition and other stuff that she could use. She found some more ammunition for her 10mm pistol, along with a lot more .38 ammunition; she thought it would fit the weird pipe-and-wood weapons she kept finding, but she didn't know for certain. The last thing she wanted was to have one of those things explode on her, or something like that. She'd wait until she met someone who could show her how to use it. The dead guards also had four stimpaks and more Nuka-Cola caps, all of which she took. Next to them was a green canvas duffle bag, which she also searched. One of them must have had a dog; she found a red dog collar, and a harness with bags on it.  
“Hey boy, do you want to wear these?” Irene had learned by now that this dog was smarter than any other she'd seen before, and she didn't want to offend her new doggy friend. The dog walked over to her, tongue lolling out of his mouth, and barked a small bark. She took that as a yes, and put the gear on him. The harness fit perfectly, and she transferred some of the items she was carrying from her backpack to his bags.  
“You okay? Not too heavy, or anything?” The dog whuffed in response and wagged his tail.

Irene and the dog left the room via a huge hole in the wall. The hallway led to a staircase. It had to lead to the third floor, where that shooter was. She was surprised they hadn't run down to investigate the explosion. Then again, they'd kept firing at her even though they couldn't see her, and had missed her by a lot. She motioned to the dog to keep low again, and they creeped up the staircase. They ended up in what must have been the kitchen for employees. She saw the shooter through the broken walls. Their back was to her, and they were still watching the right side of the stairs where she'd been.  
“Come on out, I ain't got all day!”

Irene aimed down her sights at their head, and let off two shots. Both hit, causing them to fall to the ground. Blood pooled around their head, and they didn't get up. Irene stood up and walked forward; that was the last of them.  
“I'll kill you, bitch!”  
Another attacker ran towards her, a tire iron in his hands. The dog burst out from the other room and bit his leg, dragging him back and away from Irene. She aimed for the head, and shot twice. One shot missed, burying itself in the wooden floor. The other shot hit the hand that was holding the tire iron, making him scream and drop it. He was thrashing around, making it difficult for her to aim. She didn't want to hit her dog. She put her pistol away, grabbed the tire iron, and swung it into his head as hard as she could. His skull crumpled under the hard metal, blood and bits of brain lodging on the weapon as she pulled it away. He didn't move, and the dog let go of his leg. Irene dropped the weapon, feeling light-headed and short of breath. There was so much blood…  
“Quick, inside!”

She looked up, and saw the man from the balcony gesturing for her to come. She ran towards him, the dog following her. He closed the door after she entered, turning towards her to shake her hand.  
“I don't know who you are, but your timing's impeccable. Preston Garvey, Commonwealth Minutemen.” The man shook her hand, and Irene got a good look at him. He was taller than she was by at least six inches, and his skin was darker than her own. He was still wearing the huge hat, but his hair looked short underneath it. He looked weary and tired; his warm brown eyes were tinged with red.  
“I'm glad to help, but the Minutemen? Weren't they from the Revolutionary War?”  
“They were to protect the people at a minutes's notice, we're to protect the people at a minute's notice. I joined up to make a difference. Now I think I'm the last one standing.”  
“Who are the civilians you mentioned?”  
“Right here. They're just people looking for a fresh start. We've come from Quincy. Lexington was good for a while, but there were too many feral ghouls. They drove us out of there. We've been wandering since. A month ago, there were twenty of us. Yesterday, there were eight. Now we're down to just five. There's myself, and Sturges over there.” Garvey motioned to a muscular, black-haired man wearing overalls. He nodded at Irene, then went back to working on a computer.  
“There's also Mama Murphy on the couch, and the Longs are over there.” Garvey motioned to an old, white-haired woman sitting on the couch, and to a black-haired Asian couple sitting by themselves on the floor. Irene nodded hello at all of them, then turned back to Garvey.  
“You mentioned Ghouls. What are they?”  
Garvey looked at her, surprised.  
“Wow, you aren't from around here, are you? Ghouls are people, but they're been irradiated. Most are like you or me, just living their lives. The radiation causes them to live for a long time, and they aren't affected by it, but it also messes with their looks. They're okay. It's the feral ones you have to watch out for. They're Ghouls whose brains have rotted from radiation, and they attack anyone and anything. They can't be reasoned with. The only thing you can do is kill them. Lexington had too many, but Concord doesn't have any at all. We thought we'd be safe here, to settle down, but raiders attacked us.”  
“Is there any way I can help you?”  
“We do have an idea. Sturges?”

Sturges turned away from the computer and towards Irene.  
“There's a crashed vertibird up on the roof. It's old-school, Pre-War I'd say. You might have seen it. Well, one of its passengers left behind a sweet little goodie for us. We're talking a full suit of T-45 power armor, the military-issued kind.”  
“My dad used power prmor. That would certainly give us an edge. I like it,” Irene said with a sly smile.  
“I thought you might.” Sturges chuckled. “With the suit, you could rip the minigun off of the vertibird. Do that, and the raiders will be on a one-way ride to Hell. Only one problem. The suit's got no power. Been dry for probably a hundred years.”  
“It just needs a new fusion core, probably. Are there any fusion cores around here?”  
“You know your way around power armor, that's good.” Garvey said with a smile. “Glad to know we won't be sending in a newbie. There's a fusion core in this building”  
“But we can't get to the damn thing.” Sturges said, frustration plain in his tone. “It's down in the basement, locked behind the damn security gate. Look, I fix stuff. I tinker with stuff. But bypassin' security? That just ain't my forte.”  
“Don't worry, I'll give it a shot.”  
“All right, thanks. Maybe our luck's finally turning around.” Garvey gave Irene a small smile. “Once you put the core into the power armor, those raiders will know they picked the wrong fight. Good luck.”

Irene turned to the dog. He'd walked over to the old woman, Mama Murphy, and sat down at her feet. Irene walked over to them.  
“You're not what I expected at all, you're so much better. Dogmeat knows how to pick 'em,” she drawled.  
“So his name's Dogmeat, huh? He's a good dog. Smart too.”  
“Oh indeed. Dogmeat's good at finding folks who need him. He'll stick by you now, I saw it.”  
“You… saw it? What do you mean?”  
It's the chems kid,” the old woman drawled, “they give ole Mama Murphy the “Sight”. Have ever since I can remember.”  
“What's the Sight?”  
“Oh, I can see a bit of what was, what will be, even what's happenin' right now. There's somethin' coming, kid. Something drawn by the chaos, the noise, the destruction, and it's… angry.”  
“What is it? Mama Murphy, I need more. Please, help me.”  
“I see… I see… Oh! Oh, it's horrible, kid! Claws, and teeth, and claws, and horns! The face of Death itself!” Mama Murphy drew a shuddering breath. “That's… that's all I can manage. Be careful, kid. Stay safe. I need to rest now. And you've got a job to do…”

Irene drew away from the old woman. What could she have seen? She'd mentioned chems gave her the visions; did she actually see them, or were they just hallucinations from the drugs? She turned, and saw a desk, which she searched. It was a good thing that she had; she found some more 10mm bullets, and some of those Nuka-Cola caps. She looked up, and the Asian woman glared at her, her face pinched and angry.  
“We send for help, and you're what we get? Some Vault-dwelling kid? What are you going to do in that stupid jumpsuit, bleed to death?”  
“Well, since I managed to kill all those raiders out there with just a gun and a dog, I don't think I'm entirely useless.”  
“Just run back home to your parents,” the woman said, mostly angry, but Irene could hear some sadness and pain in there as well. Irene felt a pang in her chest as she remembered her mom, her dad, and Shaun, the last time they'd all been together. It had been a month before her mom's death. They'd taken Shaun to the park for the first time, and had a picnic. She'd played catch with her mom, while her dad had stayed on the blanket with Shaun. Her baby brother had been laying on his back, staring at the clouds, and gurgling happily. Where was he now?  
“I would, if I had a home to go to, or parents to go to.” Irene's voice was harsh and cracked. “My home is gone, my parents are dead, one of them shot as I had to watch. If you'll excuse me, I have work to do.” Irene stalked off, Dogmeat following her. Mrs. Long stared after them. If Irene had turned, she would have seen sorrow and sympathy in the eyes of everyone in the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this chapter! This is the longest I've ever written, and most of it was written in one day.  
> As you can see, Irene is getting more practical and searching corpses. Once she understands better how this new world works, she'll be leaving nothing behind.  
> I tried to convey her uneasiness at having to kill; she understands that she has to in order to protect herself and others, but it's still a difficult thing for her to do. And yay for understanding dogs! This was based on things my cats do. Whenever I'm crying, they start licking my face and let me hug them for however long I need. I figured it my usually-indifferent cats do that, then Dogmeat, as smart as he is, would definitely do it.
> 
> Thanks again for reading, and comments and feedback are always welcome!


	7. Power Armor, and Raiders, and Deathclaws, Oh My!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irene helps the group in the museum by fixing up some power armor. Now to fight the raiders! But what happens when a monster appears in the streets of Concord?

Irene went down to the basement. There was the fusion core, just like they said. It was still in a generator, but all she had to do was pull it out. After she managed to open the security gate. The gate had two ways to open it; she could either hack the computer, or pick the lock. Irene walked over to the computer and turned it on. The password was five letters long, and a list of potential passwords was displayed before her. She chewed her lip, deep in thought, then she checked the lock on the gate. It didn't look too difficult, but she wouldn't know until she tried. She had checked the containers upstairs to see if there was a screwdriver, and she'd found one. There was also a box of bobby pins in her backpack. She pulled it and the screwdriver out. Picking a bobby pin, she inserted it into the lock. Turning the screwdriver a little bit, it turned halfway before it started to strain. She let the lock go back, then rotated the bobby pin to the left a little bit. She tried the lock again; it turned all the way and unlocked. Smiling to herself, she put her tools back in her bag.

She opened the gate, and pulled out the fusion core. Sticking it in her pocket, she climbed the stairs back up to the top floor. There was a door leading to the outside. Opening it, she saw it led right to the power armor. There was also a wooden desk and file cabinet. On top of the desk, there was also a tape. She grabbed it. Who knew, maybe it would have something useful. There was also a metal tin that had “CAPS STASH” written on it. Looking inside, she saw more Nuka-Cola caps. These have to be used as money, otherwise why would someone stash them? She put all thirty of them in her bag.

Walking over to the power armor, she popped the fusion core into the back. Twisting the handle, she opened it and got it.  
“You ready for this, Dogmeat?”  
He barked and wagged his tail. Irene smiled, then walked over to the vertibird. Her dad had told her about the power armor he'd used when he was a soldier. She was thankful she'd listened to him; she'd learned about it just because she thought power armor was cool. Now the information was useful. Even with the fusion core powering the armor, it took more effort than normal walking. _How did Dad do this every day? I'll have to gain strength if I want to use this more._ She clomped up the vertibird. The minigun was still attached to its holder, but only by screws. She could take it off without damaging it. Grabbing the minigun, she pulled on the minigun, gently at first. It didn't budge, so she pulled harder and harder, until she was pulling with all her strength. She heard the metal shriek and groan as it was dragged out of place. Finally, it weakened enough that she was able to wrench off the gun. Hefting it in her hands, she stomped over to the edge of the roof.

Raiders were shooting up at Garvey on the balcony. Garvey fired back at them with his laser gun. There were three that she could see on the street. All of them were standing in the open. It was perfect. Irene started spinning up the minigun, then opened fire. A flood of hot lead bullets ripped through the raiders. They were dead in seconds. She jumped off of the museum's roof, landing on the street with a resounding thud. More raiders were down the street. They raised their guns, and Irene started spinning up her weapon. Suddenly, there were thudding sounds heard. Was that coming from the sewer?

A huge shape burst up from an old sewer pipe. It was huge and hunched-over, with long arms and a tail. It had long horns on its head. Its claws were at least as long as Irene's forearm. It peered around at the raiders, then roared. They opened fire, but it ripped through them like paper. Their bullets appeared to be doing little to no damage.  
“Dogmeat, get back! Don't try to attack it!”  
The dog obeyed, running inside a nearby building. The building… The giant creature killed the last raider, then turned to Irene. She gulped, fear coursing through her veins. It roared, then charged at her. She ran to the blue and white building that Dogmeat had gone into, stopping just inside the doorway and spinning up her minigun. She hoped her hunch was correct.

The creature reached the doorway, but it was too large to fit through. It roared in frustration trying to swipe at her. She was too far back. Irene opened fire, the hail of bullets causing the creature to stagger back. She saw blood starting to pour from its wounds. It roared again, trying to charge her through the door. Irene just kept firing, the creature not having the sense to realize it was too big. Its bloodlust was up; it only wanted to kill. The creature started to weaken, and then Irene saw its eyes go bloody. Bullets had hit them, going into its brain. The creature faltered, then fell to its knees. It groaned, a long and rasping sound, then it fell over. Irene continued to shoot it until the clip was empty. She wanted to make sure it was dead.

After killing the creature, Irene tromped back to the museum. What was that, that thing? Was it what Mama Murphy had seen? As she entered the museum, she heard Garvey speaking.  
“Are you okay, Mama Murphy?”  
“I'm fine Preston, you can quit fussin'.”  
Garvey turned, and caught sight of Irene in the power armor. She stepped out of it, glad to be out of the heavy, hot, confining metal shell. He grinned at her.  
“That was a pretty amazing display! I'm glad you're on our side.”  
“Is everyone okay?”  
“Yeah, we'll be okay for a while. At least now we can move somewhere safer.” He shifted his stance, resting his gun on the floor. “Listen, this is thanks for helping us. You didn't have to do everything that you did, but you did.” He gave Irene a pack of fifty fusion cells, and a bag of something. She looked inside; it was Nuka-Cola caps. These were definitely used as money. Irene put them in her bag, then looked up at the Minuteman.  
“So what happens now? Where will you be going?”  
“For a long time, Mama Murphy's been having visions of a place that's safe, a place where we can settle. It's called “Sanctuary”. Some old, Pre-War neighborhood that we can turn into a settlement. Would you come with us? I could really use your help.”  
Irene felt a lump in her throat; they were going to her neighborhood. She didn't know if she wanted to go back… No, she had to go back. Where else would she stay? Besides, Codsworth was there. If she didn't show up, he'd be all alone again. She couldn't do that to him.  
“Sure, I'll help.”  
“You need to stay strong, kid. Like you've been doin'. There's more to your destiny. I know the pain you've been through. I've Seen it.”  
Her breath caught in Irene's throat. What had Mama Murphy seen?  
“What? What have you seen? Please tell me, I need to know!”  
“You're a young woman, out of time. You feel out of hope. But not all's lost, kid. I can feel your brother's energy. He's alive, and he's waiting for you, kid.”  
“Where's my brother? Where's Shaun?” Irene cried, a sob in her voice. Her baby brother was alive!  
“I wish I knew, I really do. But it's not like I can See your brother. I just feel his energy. I know he's alive, but I don't know where he is. He's out there. But I don't need the Sight to know where you should start lookin' for him. Diamond City, the great, green jewel of the Commonwealth. It's the biggest settlement around.”  
“Is Shaun in Diamond City?”  
“Look, kid, I'm tired now. You bring me some chems later on, and maybe the Sight will paint a clearer picture.”  
Garvey stepped forward, concern in his face.  
“Mama Murphy, no! We talked about this. The chems, that poisonous junk will kill you.”  
Mama Murphy shrugged off his words.  
“We're all gonna die eventually Preston. We're gonna need the Sight. And our new friend, well, she'll be needin' it too. Anyway, let's get goin'. Sanctuary's ahead.”  
Preston sighed, then walked towards the others.  
“Alright folks, thanks to our friend here, it's safe to go. We're heading for the place Mama Murphy talks about, Sanctuary. It's not far from here.”  
“She knows about it? You mean she hallucinated it while she was stoned out of her gourd! You want us to go on some wild goose chase, based on just 'Mama Murphy Saw it'?” Marcy Long's grating voice echoed in the cavernous foyer. Garvey stepped forward, his mouth open to speak, but Sturges spoke first.  
“Whoah, hold on, hold on. Everybody jus' take it easy. We're all in this together, right? Marcy, you got a better idea of what we should do next?”  
The woman looked away, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Sturges turned, and looked at everyone else.  
“Anybody?”  
Silence was the only thing that greeted him.  
“Well, then, Sanctuary's where we're goin'. Sure hope it lives up to the name.”  
Everyone stood up, and exited the museum; Irene was the last one out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I write this story, I'm doing a play through of Fallout 4 based on Irene. As I was fighting the Deathclaw, I ran into a building to reload. I found out that Deathclaws are too big to fit through the doorways, and that they're too focused on killing you to do anything other than continuously trying to force their way through said doorway. I hope it wasn't too anti-climactic, but Irene's motto is "Fight smarter, not harder".
> 
> Thanks for reading this, and comments and feedback are always appreciated!


	8. On the Road Again, Just Can't Wait to Get on the Road Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irene heads back to Sanctuary Hills with Preston Garvey and his merry band of survivors. She has to decide how much of the truth to tell him, and the reality of her situation sets in. Will it break her, or will she come out stronger for it?
> 
> ***********************************************************************************************************
> 
> As a warning, Irene has a breakdown in this chapter, as she realizes that everything that happened actually did happen. There's also a description of Nate's body, post-gunshot. If you want to avoid the description, it's from "But she had seen Nate" and ends with "As she sobbed". It's not particularly graphic, but it does talk about the unfortunate side effects of a shot to the head.

Irene tromped out the door of the museum. Garvey stood ahead, waiting for everyone to be ready. He motioned Irene to come towards him.  
“Could you go ahead of us a little bit? That way anything aggressive will attack you first instead of us… That sounded a lot better in my head,” he said sheepishly. Irene shook her head.  
“No, I completely understand. I'm the one with power armor and the minigun, so I'm much better protected than any of you are. Better something exhausts itself trying to get through the armor, than by attacking you guys.” Irene walked forward, thought for a moment, then walked back. “Hey Garvey, does anyone apart from you have a gun? I took a few from the dead raiders, if you need them.”  
Garvey shook his head. “I appreciate your willingness to help us, but we all have guns. No one goes anywhere in the Commonwealth without a weapon… You really aren't from here, are you?”  
Irene hesitated, then said, “I'll tell you once we get to Sanctuary. Is that okay?”  
“Alright. I didn't mean to pry, I'm just a little surprised is all.” He nodded, not pressing the issue.

Irene nodded at him, then walked forward. She didn't expect to have to fight much, if anything, on the way. Sanctuary Hills wasn't that far, and she'd killed everything she knew about on her way to Concord. She and Dogmeat walked ahead of the group a little way, and they followed. As they walked, Irene thought about what to tell Garvey. _Should I tell him the truth? I don't want to lie to him. Would he actually believe that I was frozen in a Vault for over 200 years? I'm not completely sure that I believe it myself. I mean, I could always show him the Vault, it's just up the hill… Although I hope it doesn't come to that. I really don't want to go back there. Would it be more trouble than it's worth? But he's trusted me, even though he didn't have to…_ Dogmeat whuffed at Irene, interrupting her thoughts. She smiled at the dog, and ever so gently patted his head. He whuffed again, and wagged his tail. She adjusted her grip on the minigun; even with power armor, it was heavy.

The rest of the walk was uneventful. Irene could hear the people behind her talking as they walked along, but they were talking so low that she couldn't make out what they were saying. Sturges started to whistle, but Mrs. Long – Sturges had called her Marcy – glared at him until he stopped. As they passed by the Red Rocket, Sturges forgot about Mrs. Long because he whistled long.  
“I think I just found my new vacation home.”  
“You're idea of heaven, eh Sturges?” Garvey chuckled at the other man, but he stared at it for a long while. “You know, there could be a lot of salvage in that place.” He turned forward to Irene. “How about we get settled in Sanctuary, then check this place out? Could be some useful stuff in there.”  
Irene nodded. She thought she'd cleared out everything valuable earlier, but maybe Garvey would see something she didn't.

A little further on, Garvey was impressed by the old Minuteman statue, the one just before the bridge into Sanctuary Hills. Irene noticed that the fusion core was getting low. She recalled an old power armor station that someone had put in the carport of the house across from hers. It had been put in some time after the bombs dropped, because no one she knew had needed it. She sprinted over to station, and exited the armor. It looked like it had only gotten some minor damage during the fight with the raiders, and she made a note to ask Sturges if he could look it over. The armor could be useful later on, if she found more fusion cores, but she wasn't an expert on power armor; she didn't want to overlook anything that might ruin it.

As she stretched, grateful to be out of the cramped metal suit, Garvey and the others stood in the center of the area, looking around at all the houses. Garvey smiled at Irene, and walked over to her.  
“This is a nice place here; Mama Murphy knew what she was talking about. It'll be easy to build some defenses, there's open spaces for crops, and most of the homes are still intact. We can make some beds, and we'll have a pretty decent life here. What do you think?”  
Irene struggled for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. _Truth, or lie… truth, or lie… truth, or a lie…_ Garvey had been so nice to her so far, and hadn't made her feel uneasy. In fact, he'd explained things to her when she didn't understand them, things that were normal to them, and hadn't pressed her about it. She looked around at her old neighborhood, remembering what it was like before all this devastation.  
“Yeah, I used to like living here, before the War,” she said, a small, wistful smile on her face.  
“What do you mean?” Garvey asked, leaning closer to her, confusion plain on his face. “Before what war? Are you…”  
“I used to live her, over two hundred years ago. My dad served in the military, so my family had a spot in one of the Vaults. We were frozen, I think, for most of the time; I only thawed out earlier today. I'm still really confused about this new world.”  
Garvey's mouth was so wide, Irene thought his jaw might break. “Damn. So, you're like an old, Pre-War ghoul, but in better shape?” Garvey shook his head; Irene could see that he was struggling to comprehend it all. He looked up sharply. “Wait, you said you were frozen; didn't anyone else make it out with you?”  
“I don't know, but my baby brother was taken before I fully thawed. Some people kidnapped him. He was with my dad. My dad, they shot… they shot…” her voice broke, and she starting crying, tears pouring down her cheeks. “They shot my dad!” she wailed. “They took my brother, and they shot my dad! In the head!”

Irene crumpled to the ground; now that she wasn't being shot at, or trying to find other people, or doing anything, reality hit her. Her dad was gone, dead, and Shaun was missing. Shaun, with his goofy, toothless smile, his dimples, his chubby little hands that loved to grab at her hair, was somewhere out here in this hell; she didn't know who took him, if they'd take care of him, what they wanted him for. Garvey set down his rifle, kneeled next to Irene, and wrapped his arms around her. He didn't say anything. Dogmeat wriggled his way into her arms, a soft, comforting warmth. She buried her head in Garvey's shoulder, sobbing harder. Her heart hurt in her chest, an actual, physical ache. It was worse than when her mom had died; then she'd had Nate, and Shaun, to look after and to grieve with. She hadn't seen her mom die. She hadn't seen her mom's body, since her dad had taken care of everything. But she'd seen Nate, shot while he was trying to keep her baby brother. She'd seen the gaping hole in his head, his blood crystalized with the ice in his pod-thing, his eyes still open, his body frozen solid.

As she sobbed, Garvey slowly stroked her hair and patted her back. The others look strangely at them, but Garvey waved them off. After a while, Irene's sobs trickled off. She sniffled, and pulled away from Garvey's shoulder. Dogmeat licked some of the tears off of her face, whining.  
“Sorry about that,” she said in a rough, quiet voice, wiping her eyes as she stood. Garvey pulled a piece of fabric from his pocket, offering it to her. She took it, drying her eyes and wiping her nose free from snot.  
“Hey, it's okay. You did really well for being Pre-War and thrust into all of this; you saved our lives. Besides, I know what it's like to lose people. You ever need to grieve, or a shoulder to cry on, you let me know.” He squeezed her shoulder and smiled gently at her. “You're going to search for your brother?”  
“Yes, I'm going to look for him. He's less than a year old, and I don't know if he'll survive out here, even with people looking after him. They killed our dad because he wouldn't let go of Shaun; I'm terrified that they'll do something to Shaun if he cries, or wets himself, or gets fussy, or anything they don't like. Back at the museum, Mama Murphy suggested I go to Diamond City, so that's where I'm headed.”  
Garvey nodded, deep in thought. “How about you stay here in Sanctuary for a little while, to rest up?” He raised his hands defensively when Irene glared at him, cutting her off before she could say anything. “I know you want to find him as soon as you can, but you've been frozen for two hundred years. You don't know how to survive in our world. I know you did great work with those raiders, and you took out a deathclaw, but there's a lot more than them out in the Commonwealth. There's bloatflies, feral ghouls, Yao Guai, radroaches, wild dogs, and whole lot more. There's ways to cook food to reduce the radiation, and ways to tell if water is irradiated or not. We know which plants are and aren't edible, and we know how to fix your gear. You can help us fix up Sanctuary, and we can teach you all those things.”

Irene stared at him. _I have to find Shaun! I can't leave him out there!_  
“Look, do you even know where Diamond City is, or how to find it?”  
Irene slumped, defeated. “No,” she said, her voice small, quiet, and tired. Garvey looked at her, sympathetically.  
“It's not going to do your brother any good if you charge out there and die. If you do that, who's going to find him? As much as I would like to do it, I don't know what he looks like, or who took him. You're the only one who does.”  
“You're right,” Irene sighed, “what do you want me to do?”  
“Let's go see what the others say.”  
Irene and Garvey walked over to the others, who were gathered around the tree at the end of the cul-de-sac.  
“So, do you folks know what we need to do to make this place livable?”  
“Well, there's a lot of intact houses, so we all got a roof over our heads. Only problem is, some of the beds ain't quite what they used to be. Most of the wood's there, just needs to be remade into a new frame. Just requires nailin' 'em together.” Sturges smiled. “It'll be real nice to sleep in a bed again.”  
“I can help you with that,” Irene volunteered, “if you'll take a look at the power armor when we're done. It got a little banged up during the fight, and I want to make sure there's nothing wrong with it.”  
Sturges nodded. “Sure, I can do that for ya. I may not know a whole lot about power armor, but I'll do my best. Now, let's get to work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! First update in over six months! Life got crazy again, and then I went through a slump where I just didn't want to write anything.
> 
> Not much to explain in this chapter. If you think Garvey is selfish for making Irene stay to help fix Sanctuary, and then go find Shaun, he's trying his best. He's never dealt with a Vault dweller before, and certainly not one from Pre-War. He wants to teach her as much as he can about the Commonwealth before she goes traipsing around with just herself and Dogmeat. Besides, he wants to make sure she's better after her breakdown; something like that out in the Commonwealth wasteland would likely get you killed.


	9. Lessons in Survival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irene and the others work to make Sanctuary feel like home. Along the way, they teach Irene important lessons about this post-apocalyptic world. After some improvements, Irene is anxious to be on her way and look for Shaun. Preston agrees to accompany her, but on one condition.

Irene, Sturges, and the Longs worked for the rest of the day taking the old bed frames apart and making new ones. Codsworth helped them as well as he could, delighted to be of use again. The kindly robot was able to find two metal bed frames as well, which held up much better than the wood. Most of the mattresses they found needed to be stuffed, but they were able to find a lot of old, ripped up clothing and rags to use, as well as bundles of dried grass. Sturges explained to Irene that they used a lot of Pre-War items either as-is, or they used them for parts. Electricity was a luxury. Jun Long explained about food, and how most of it had radiation. He explained that cooking foods with certain plants helped to reduce the radiation, making it safer to eat. He and Irene were able to rig up a little campfire with a hanging cooking pot. He showed her how to make a pretty good meat stew; it wasn't until after she'd finished it that he told her it was made from the roaches she'd killed earlier- radroaches, they were called. The group made plans on what to do next. They decided to focus on food, water, and defenses. It was decided that Irene, Sturges, and Dogmeat would head to the Red Rocket the next day, to scour the place for anything useful. They would also head back into Concord, to loot the bodies of the raiders and see what they could find in the buildings. Irene made a list of what the others wanted them to look out for. It was mostly scrap, or medical supplies, but Marcy Long had asked them to look out for fresh vegetables and fruit, so they could plant the seeds. While they were scavenging, the others would be figuring out how to improve Sanctuary.

After it had gotten dark, and they couldn't see too well anymore, they decided to sleep. It was difficult for Irene, trying to sleep where she used to live. She didn't go into her old house at all, not even when they were fixing the bed frames. She couldn't, not yet. She couldn't have another breakdown. She needed to find Shaun. Once she did, then she could go back home without feeling, well, everything; she was feeling so much, she couldn't understand what she was feeling. The others accepted her word when she said the house wasn't a place where they should stay. They'd left a bed in the Rosa's house across the street, where the power armor rack and all the workbenches were. She hadn't been close to anyone in Sanctuary Hills, so sleeping in another person's house wasn't difficult. The Rosa's house was the closest to hers, though; even though she didn't want to sleep in the rundown building, she still wanted to be close. There was a pile of old rugs that they hadn't used, near her bed, and Dogmeat curled up on them.  
“How are you feeling?” Mr. Long had followed her into the dilapidated house,  
“I'm fine, or I will be.”  
“Okay. I didn't realize until earlier that you must have lost someone too. We, Marcy and me, lost our son, Kyle. He… he didn't make it out of Quincy with the rest of us. But we're still alive, right? We have to be strong, for them.”  
“Yeah,” Irene replied, her voice hushed, “yeah, we do.”  
Mr. Long smiled a small smile at her. “You'll be okay, kid. It'll take a while, but, eventually, you'll be okay. You may not be from the Commonwealth, but you're able to survive here, better than a lot of others. You'll be okay, in the long run.” He patted her head, then walked off to where he and his wife were staying. Dogmeat whuffed at her, then licked her face, tail wagging.  
“Good night, you lovely, silly dog,” she giggled. She pulled the blanket over her.

It was difficult for Irene to fall asleep. It was so quiet, so much more than before, and yet noisier at the same time. She could hear bugs chirping and chittering, but they didn't sound like what she remembered. She could hear them better as well, since these buildings had no windows, and gaping holes in the walls and roofs. The bugs were so much bigger now, too. Codsworth was patrolling around the houses, she knew he was able to kill them, and she had Dogmeat with her, but still. She was nervous about waking up, or not waking up, with a huge bug chomping on her. Irene didn't know which would be worse. Eventually, she was able to fall asleep.

She woke up the next morning, feeling sore and tired. Weak sunlight streamed through the empty window frames, as well as the other holes in the building. Irene yawned, and stretched.  
“Morning, boy.” Dogmeat was waking up as well, and she gave him some scratches and pats. She could hear someone else waking up.  
“Good morning, Miss Irene!” Codsworth floated in, cheerful as ever. “Did you have a nice sleep?”  
“Well enough, thanks Codsworth.”  
“I see you found some assistance in Concord, Miss. Wonderful news!”  
“Yeah, I found some new… friends, I guess. Anything happen while I was gone?”  
“Oh, just catching up on the old yard work and pest control. Will they be able to help you find young Master Shaun? I realize I'm no Mister Gutsy, but if you ever need any help out in the Commonwealth, I'd be honored to accompany you.”  
Irene smiled at the robot; he really was no Mister Gutsy, and she was touched by his offer. “Thank you, Codsworth, I really, really appreciate it. I think it might be best if you stay and help the people here, though. They could use an extra hand getting this place back in order.”

Irene smelled something delicious in the air, and her stomach rumbled. Someone was cooking breakfast; it was probably Mr. Long, since he said he enjoyed cooking. “I'm going to get some breakfast, Codsworth.”  
“Alright, Miss Irene. Have a good day!” Codsworth floated off through the door, humming to himself. She didn't know what he'd do next, but he was bound to make himself useful. Grabbing her belt, she put it on, setting her pistol in its holster. She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to get it back in some semblance of order. She'd taken her hair out of its bun before she slept, she was surprised it had held up so well, but she could already tell that long hair was going to be a pain. Both Marcy Long and Mama Murphy had short hair; maybe she could cut it short as well? Right now, she just used a strip of cloth to tie it back in a ponytail.

Mr. Long looked up from the cooking fire; Mrs. Long, Preston, Sturges, and Mama Murphy were all there as well.  
“Mornin'. We realized that we didn't really get introduced yesterday. What's your name?” Sturges asked.  
“Good morning. I'm sorry about that, my name's Irene. Irene Whittaker.”  
“How old are you, Irene? You sure handled yourself well with those Raiders,” Preston said, fiddling with his laser rifle.  
“I'm seventeen, almost eighteen.”  
Preston looked shocked. “I thought you were younger, a lot younger. I guess it's because you're from before the War. Nowadays, people from the Commonwealth age quickly.”  
“I guess they would, life's so much harder now. We had it easy before, even with the shortages and war and stuff. What are you making, Mr. Long?” Irene changed the subject, before she was forced to think more about how it was before.  
“Call me Jun. We didn't use up all of the radroach meat, and the Mr. Handy told us you killed some bloatflies yesterday, so we used some of that meat as well. We found some bird eggs, so I chopped up the meat and made some scrambled eggs.”  
“They smell delicious! …I'm going to ignore the fact that it's bug meat, though,” Irene insisted. The others laughed, except for Mrs. Long. She still had her usual, pinched expression.  
“I was thinking that, dependin' on what we find today, we could try an' build some wells or somthin'. We need a source of fresh water.” Sturges said, then turned to Irene and explained. “The river won't do. It's got too much radiation. We'd have to build a purifier before we could use it, and that requires electricity. I'm thinkin' either a couple wells or some water pumps, since ground water isn't as affected by radiation. We're not hurting for raw materials here; we've already got some shelters with these old houses, a bunch of wood from the trees, and metal from the places that are too busted to fix. I got plenty of ideas. We jus' need some parts to put 'em all together.”  
Irene nodded. “So it's still Red Rocket, and maybe Concord?”  
“Sure thing. That way, I can teach ya what's valuable and what ain't.”

Jun said that breakfast was ready, so they all ate. Despite being bug meat, Irene thought the scrambled eggs tasted really good. Jun saved some leftover meat for Dogmeat, so her dog ate too. Preston, Codsworth, and the others would stay behind in Sanctuary, to get a better idea of what salvage was still there. Irene, Dogmeat, and Sturges would search the Red Rocket and Concord.  
“Irene, before you go, let me show you how a pipe gun works,” Preston told her.  
Confused, Irene looked at him. “A pipe gun? What's a pipe gun?”  
“Guns like the ones you took from the raiders yesterday. They're basically a block of wood, a trigger, and pipes for the barrel and other parts. Cheap, easy to build, they're a staple here for raiders and settlers alike. You have a lot of .38 ammunition, right? That's what it can be used for.” Preston showed her one of the pipe guns she'd found yesterday, pointing out the different parts. He showed her how to load it, and let her fire it. It was lighter than her 10mm pistol, but less accurate.  
“I know you've got your 10mm pistol, but that ammunition isn't as common. Besides, you should always have at least two guns out here in the Commonwealth, plus a weapon that doesn't need ammunition, like your tire iron.”  
“Thanks, Garvey.”  
“You can call me Preston, if you want.”  
“Okay Preston.” Irene smiled. It was nicer to be on a first name basis with people; it made her feel more comfortable, more like how things used to be. Putting the pipe pistol in the second holster of her belt, she grabbed her backpack and Dogmeat's harness. Sturges already had his own bag, so they headed out to the Red Rocket.

Irene turned on the radio of her Pip-Boy. It was on a station called Diamond City Radio, and was playing some Pre-War music.  
“I like that station. DJ ain't too good, but he's got some nice music.”  
“I like it, too. It reminds me of when my mom would put records on, before… before everything.”  
“You lost both of your parents?” Sturges asked.  
“Yes. My mom died before everything happened, but my dad was killed… killed just before I left the Vault.”  
“I'm sorry to hear that. My mom was killed by raiders when she was travelin' from Quincy to the settlement where her sister lived. My old man had a heart attack a couple years ago. Are you really seventeen? You look a lot younger.”  
Irene gave a rueful grin. She'd been asked that a lot in her life. “Yeah, I'm seventeen. A lot of people on my father's side also looked really young, at least that's what my mom told me.” Irene noticed Sturges's quizzical look. “My dad, the one I lost, wasn't my biological parent. My mom married young and had me, but my father was a soldier who died in a training accident when I was not quite two. After that, we immigrated to Boston from India, where my mom grew up. She met Nate, my dad, a couple years later in a night class. They hit it off, and got married when I was six. He's the only father I ever knew, so I call him my dad.”

They continued along in silence, until they reached the Red Rocket. The bodies of the pink things that had attacked her were still there.  
“Hey, Sturges, what are these pink things? They attacked me yesterday, when I found Dogmeat here.”  
Sturges walked towards the closest one. “They're called mole rats. Nasty critters. They have lots of good meat, but they're vicious and pack a bite. You can use the teeth and hides, though, as well as the meat, so let's carry them back to Sanctuary before we start on anything else.”  
Irene nodded, and they carried the five mole rats back, two at a time. Sturges could carry one by himself, but Irene needed Dogmeat's help to carry one. Sturges offered to help her, but she declined, saying they'd get it done faster this way. Mama Murphy took charge of the carcasses back in Sanctuary, and Irene and Sturges headed back to their search.

Sturges pointed out all the old cars, and all the tires around the place. “Later on, we can drag these cars back, or take them apart here, and use the metal and anything else in it. The tires can be used for a bunch of different things; walls for defense, for building, even cut 'em up and use 'em as armor, if we need to. They can always be melted for rubber, too.”  
He and Irene searched the inside, while Dogmeat stayed on guard.  
“What should we take, Sturges?”  
“Well, since we're so close to Sanctuary, I figure we might as well take everything we can. If it can fit in your pack, grab it,” he replied, scratching the back of his neck. Irene nodded, and they got to work. Sturges often told her why he was taking certain things, explaining their usefulness. She didn't realize how valuable things like adhesive, oil, or rat poison were. Cans could be beaten into armor plating, or roofing; old newspapers could be ripped up and stuffed into pillows or mattresses; hot plates and desk fans could be taken apart for their circuitry and parts. They grabbed old cigarettes, coffee cups, screwdrivers, a broom, even a Giddyup Buttercup leg. The leg was big, but Sturges's eyes lit up when Irene showed it to him.

Since they weren't too far from Sanctuary, they headed back to drop off their salvage. It had only taken them an hour and a half, so they decided to head to Concord and see what they could find. Preston was nervous about sending them off on their own, but Irene told him they'd be fine. Neither she, nor Sturges, were stupid, and besides, they had Dogmeat with them. He'd warn them about anything that came their way. They headed back to Concord, both alert with their pistols drawn. Sturges told her the two-headed cow corpse she'd see on the way to Concord was a brahmin, basically a mutated cow. They headed into an old house on the right. It was small, but they found some food in the kitchen. They also found some bottles of Nuka-Cola, and even a bottle of Nuka-Cola Quantum, still glowing blue after all these years.  
“These regular Nuka-Colas will make a nice treat, but Quantum sells for a mighty fine price. We should keep it for when a trader passes by.”  
“Should we take the old glasses?”  
Sturges put them in his pack. “Absolutely. Glass can be used for scopes, laser weapons, Molotovs, used to hold stuff, or most people drink out of them.”  
Irene blushed, embarrassed that she'd forgotten the simplest use for them. Sturges smiled at her, then went back to searching. They found a chem box upstairs, filled with Med-X, Psycho, and stimpaks.  
Sturges's lip curled when he saw the Psycho. “Nasty stuff, Psycho. Don't you every use it, Irene. It's easy to get addicted to, and it's pure poison.”  
Irene shuddered. “My dad was army, Pre-War; he had friends get addicted to it. He told me about what they were like, the aggression and the bleeding gums and all that stuff. I've never thought chems were a good idea, but I wouldn't imagine taking them now with all the crazy animals and stuff out here.”  
Sturges nodded. “Good. Some people take them to get away from all this, to make it more bearable. Other people take them because they don't care about what happens. Other people only take them in emergencies, like when they need a speed boost from Jet, or something like that. Personally, I agree with you; there's too much stuff that wants to kill you out here that I'm not goin' to risk my life with some chems. The box will be good though, we can store Rad-Away, stimpaks, blood packs, and other medicine in here.”

In the corner of the upstairs room, they found a wall safe.  
“I wonder what goodies are in there,” Sturges said as he crouched before it. He fiddled with the lock, before giving up. “Too complicated for me.”  
Irene stepped forward. “Let me try, I know a bit about lockpicking. I picked the lock on the door in the museum, where the fusion core was; I used to pick the lock of my classroom all the time, because my teacher would forget her keys.” She kneeled in front of the safe, pulling out her screwdriver and box of bobby pins. The lock was more complicated than the one in the museum, she broke one bobby pin, but if she just- there! She got it open!  
Sturges whistled appreciatively when he saw the stash. “Ammunition, pistols, a bunch of caps, and a silver locket. Now that's some nice salvage.” Sturges counted the bottle caps in the bag. His eyes grew wide. “Sweet mercy, there's over two hundred caps here! How about you and I each take fifty caps, and leave the remaining hundred for Sanctuary?”  
Irene nodded. “Is two hundred bottle caps a lot?”  
“To find like this? Hell yeah, it's a lot of caps. We don't call 'em bottle caps, just caps,” he clarified, “and two hundred caps, hell, even a hundred caps, can get you a lot of stuff. Food, water, ammunition, or other, rarer scrap like circuitry, fiber optics, or crystals.”

They checked the dresser, and found some scraps of clothing. They shoved everything in their bags, and checked out the other houses and buildings near the museum. The rest of their search was uneventful. There were no more huge finds, like the box of chems or the wall safe. There were a couple stimpaks and a vial of Med-X in an old drug store, along with another wall safe that was too difficult for either Irene or Sturges. In some of the other buildings, they found more mundane salvage; lightbulbs, some duct tape, fuses, tin and aluminum cans, some coffee cups, and other stuff. They looked through all the open buildings, and even headed into the old workhouse. Irene found a brush, comb, and mirror set, which she claimed for herself; she wasn't going around with tangled hair any longer than she had to. Another thing they found was an old red bandanna, which Irene tied around Dogmeat's neck.  
“There you go, boy. Now you look even nicer.” Dogmeat playfully barked, and licked Irene's face all over. Irene laughed. “I guess you like it, then.” Dogmeat wagged his tail, and led them onward. In a house next to the old playground, they found a trove of Pre-War food; several boxes each of Sugar Bombs, Cram, Blamco Mac n Cheese, InstaMash, Salisbury Steak, and even some Fancy Lads Snack Cakes. There was even a box of fresh food, containing corn, melons, gourds, and a tato, which was basically a tomato. Sturges and Irene grinned at each other; even Irene knew a find like this was great luck. Their packs were full, even Dogmeat's harness packs, so they headed back to Sanctuary. They listened to more Diamond City Radio on the way; Irene liked it, even though the Pre-War songs made her feel a little melancholy. She was feeling better today than she was yesterday, though, so that was an improvement.

They unloaded their packs when they got back to Sanctuary. Mama Murphy had taken care of the mole rats, so they had plenty of meat for a while. The others were excited to see the fresh foods they'd found, and Mrs. Long took charge of them. She said that she would make sure they were planted properly. They put the chem box in the Rosa's old house, since that had actual cupboards, as well as the preserved food. Jun said he'd use some of the InstaMash for dinner. When Irene told Preston about the caps and ammunition, he was thrilled,. He insisted on giving a third of the ammunition to Irene, saying, “You'll need it when you look for your brother.”

Dinner was a happy affair. They didn't speak much, but everyone was relaxed as they ate. Irene figured they were thrilled to be having some good luck for a change. Sturges told the others that she was their “good luck charm,” which made her blush. She was just happy to help them, especially since they'd helped her. She helped Jun clean the dishes, and Codsworth floated by to do his nightly guard duty. Irene changed into some pajamas she'd found in Mrs. Rosa's dresser, so that she wouldn't have to sleep in her Vault suit. She took off her armor, and set it on top of a small table she'd found. Laying her Vault suit and her belt over the back of a chair, she tucked her boots underneath it. She yawned as Dogmeat curled up on his pile of rugs. Her blanket pulled up around her, she fell asleep more easily this time than the night before.

The days progressed rapidly. They didn't do anymore scavenging missions, but they focused on Sanctuary itself. Mrs. Long took charge of the crops, with Mama Murphy to help her, while Sturges and Irene worked on the water supply. They had enough scrap to build three working water pumps, all of which provided fresh water. Sturges was also able to rig together a two automated turrets for defense. Preston insisted they position them at the bridge, which was the main was to get into Sanctuary. They also built two wooden guard towers, as well as a shorter, wider barricade. It had taken them almost a week to do all of this, and Irene was starting to feel anxious. _I want to find my brother!_  
“Stay strong, kid. Your energy is tied to this place, I can tell.”  
Irene started; Mama Murphy had walked up next to her, surprisingly quiet. Irene looked up at her from where she squatted next to the crops. _It can't hurt to tell her. If she really has “the Sight”, then she already knows._ “I'm not surprised. I used to live here, a long time ago.”  
“Ah, but the distant past ain't so distant for you, is it? I saw you in that icebox, frozen, and saw you leave it. This world's a confusing nightmare for you, isn't it? If you need help, the Sight has answers. You just gotta bring me some Jet, and then we'll see what I can see.”  
Irene shifted her weight; she knew Jet was a chem, and that it was easy to get addicted to. She remembered Preston wanting Mama Murphy to lay off the chems, but if Mama Murphy could find Shaun, or help in anyway… “How about I think it over, and get back to you later?” she said hesitantly.  
Mama Murphy shrugged. “Sure thing, kid. The Sight ain't goin' anywhere. You let me know when you want me to use it.” The older woman wandered off, presumably to help Sturges with building some doors for the root cellar they'd found. Someone had tried to use it as a bunker, but it was abandoned when they found it, so it was perfect to store their food. That was one good thing about the radiation; even though there was less that would grow, the growing time was a lot shorter. They'd have some crops ready to harvest by the end of a week, a week and a half at the most.

Preston walked by on his rounds, and Irene stood up, dusting off her hands and knees. She was done here anyway, and she needed to talk to Preston. “Preston, can I talk to you for a minute?”  
“Sure,” he said, stopping next to her, “what do you need?”  
“I really appreciate everything you and the others have done to teach me and prepare me for this world, but I need to start searching for Shaun. It's been a week since he was taken. I need to find him, and to avenge my dad.”  
Preston nodded slowly. “I understand. Now that Sanctuary is more secure, there's one thing I was wanting you to do, before you search for your brother. I'd like to come with you, I don't feel comfortable leaving you to wander the Commonwealth with just Dogmeat to help you- not that he isn't a smart dog, it's just not the same as having someone else with you.”  
“I'd be happy to have you along, Preston. I have a feeling that I'll need all the help I can get. But what do you want me to do?”  
“There's another settlement that I just heard from, wondering if there's any Minutemen left. They're having trouble with raiders. They're close by, so I was thinking we should clear out the raiders for them. If they're close enough to bother this settlement, it's only a matter of time before they bother Sanctuary, and with a friendly settlement, Sanctuary will have some backup if something goes wrong.”  
Irene hated the delay, but she knew he was right. “Okay, let's help these people.”  
“Great!” Preston beamed at her. “It's a place called Tenpines Bluff. It's too late to start now, but if we leave around seven tomorrow morning, we'll be able to be back here within a day, two at the most.”  
“Alright,” Irene nodded, “I'll have an early dinner, and then turn in. My Pip-Boy has an alarm, so I'll set it for six thirty, and I'll wake you up. Okay?”  
“Sounds good. I'll let the others know what's happening, then I'll turn in. See you tomorrow.” Preston walked off to find the others.

Irene made her way to the cooking fire, and made herself a couple mole rat and vegetable skewers for dinner. She saw Dogmeat running by, and called him to her.  
“Could you bring Codsworth here? Tomorrow, you, Preston, and I are going to help another settlement, then we'll be leaving to look for Shaun.”  
Dogmeat barked, and raced off. A few minutes later, he and Codsworth both came up to her.  
“Do you need me, Miss Irene?”  
“Yes, Codsworth. Tomorrow, Preston, Dogmeat, and I are going to help a nearby settlement. It's having raider troubles. After that, with some friendly neighbors to help Sanctuary, the three of us will be looking for Shaun.”  
“You'll be leaving, Miss?” Codsworth sniffed, and Irene felt so sorry for him.  
“Just for a while. I don't know when I'll be back, but I will be. I'll bring Shaun back with me, and then we'll stay here in Sanctuary. I want you to stay here, and help the others. You'll need to look after them, just as well as you looked after me, and dad, and Shaun.” She stood up, and gave the Mr. Handy a hug, being careful of his eyestalks. He was a good-hearted robot, and she cared about him.  
“I'll do just as you say, Miss Irene. Do be careful, and come back safely.”  
“I will, Codsworth, I will.”

Irene put the skewers in the dish bucket, and made her way into her room in the Rosa's old house. It used to be the bathroom, but the sink and tub had been torn out ages ago. It was one of the few rooms with no holes in it; she didn't like the idea of no privacy, especially when she changed clothes. She changed into her pajamas, laying her outfit on her chair.  
“Goodnight, Dogmeat.” She hugged her doggy companion, giving him lots of pets and rubs. He licked her hands, then curled up on his bed of rugs. She set the alarm on her Pip-Boy, not looking forward to getting up so early. She was glad she'd strung up some old curtains along the doorway, so that she could block what sunlight was still shining.  
“I'm coming for you, Shaun,” she whispered into the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you for reading this chapter. It's by far the longest one in this story, at almost 5,000 words, but I couldn't find a good place to break it up.
> 
> As I mentioned earlier, I'm doing a play through of Irene as I'm writing. Everything found in the story, and most of the encounters, come from that play through. Some things obviously aren't from the play through; Sturges isn't a companion, and you can't get Preston as a companion until you actually complete the quest "The First Step", but otherwise I'm staying true. So that lucky cache of food and veggies? Yeah, I actually found that. I have no idea how, since I've never found anything like it before, but it works.
> 
> Next chapter is rescuing the settlement, and then heading to Diamond City! Yay!


	10. The First Step Towards the Jewel of the Commonwealth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irene and Preston make their way to a settlement that needs help. Raiders, the plague of the Commonwealth, are to blame. As they make their way to the stronghold, Irene learns more about the strange creatures in the Commonwealth.

_What's that stupid noise?_ Irene woke up, groaning as she turned over. It was her Pip-Boy. Why was she awake so early? _I'm going to rescue Shaun!_ She bolted upright in bed. She scrabbled to change out of her pajamas into her Vault suit and armor. She grabbed an already opened box of Sugar Bombs, and poured herself a bowl. Grabbing two bird eggs and some mole rat meat, she lit the fire to make some scrambled eggs. A third of the meat went into the eggs, the other part went to Dogmeat, who was also awake.  
“Can you wake up Preston for me, boy?” Irene asked after Dogmeat had eaten some of his food. He raced off to the Russell's old house, the only one left standing next to the bridge. Preston had said that if raiders came, it would be across the bridge, so he had set up his bed in that house. She stirred the eggs, making sure they cooked properly. After a couple minutes, Preston came jogging up, with Dogmeat gamboling around him. Irene handed him a plate with eggs, giving him the larger portion since she had Sugar Bombs as well. They ate in companionable silence for a while, then Preston spoke.  
“I think we should grab a couple cans of purified water, each, as well as some stimpaks and some mole rat jerky.”  
“You have a pack, right?” she asked, wondering if there was one to use if he didn't. Preston nodded, his mouth too full to answer for a moment. Since she was finished, she put her dishes in the dish bucket, and went to grab the supplies, along with an extra can of purified water. She also grabbed her trusty tire iron, and both her 10mm pistol and the pipe pistol, as well as plenty of extra ammunition for each gun. She put Dogmeat's harness and bandanna on him, and he licked her face. Smiling, she hugged her lovely dog.

Preston met her at the bridge at seven, and they headed out.  
“Tenpines Bluff is almost straight to the east. They focus on farming, so I don't think they have much defensive capability.”  
“Do you know what the co-ordinates are? I can place a marker on the map on my Pip-Boy if you do.”  
“Sure thing.” Preston gave her the coordinates, and she found them on her map.  
She gave him a thumbs up. “Done! Do you mind if I turn on my radio?”  
“Sure, go ahead. Diamond City Radio?”  
Irene nodded. “Yeah. I like the Pre-War music, but I feel so sorry for the DJ. He's so nervous.” She turned on the radio, and the beginning of Dion's The Wander filled the air. Irene grinned. “I love this song!”

They walked on, weapons at the ready. Preston had his laser gun – he told her it was a laser musket – and she had her 10mm out. Dogmeat was ahead of them, his nose in the air. They were just across from the Red Rocket, when they heard a rumbling. Irene and Preston looked at each other; they knew this kind of rumbling. Mole rats, five of them, popped out of the ground. Irene used the V.A.T.S. on her Pip-Boy, and shot two of them in the head. Dogmeat grabbed one by the neck, and shook it viciously; it didn't get back up when he tossed it away, its head at an odd angle. Preston shot one, and Irene finished off the last one.  
“You okay, Preston?”  
He smiled. “I'm fine. Nasty creatures, aren't they? Nothing compared to super mutants, but still.”  
“What are super mutants?”  
“Nobody really knows, other than they're bigger than humans, stronger, meaner, and a little stupider. They hate us, humans that is, and eat us. If you see a super mutant before it's spotted you, get away as soon as you can.”  
Irene nodded, and they continued on. About ten minutes later, Dogmeat growled softly, and got low to the ground. Preston and Irene followed suit. They found a campfire, with a three raiders sitting around it. Their weapons were on the ground; they hadn't noticed them.

Irene gestured at them with her pistol, and Preston nodded. They both stood up; Preston shot two raiders, and Irene got the third. They were dead before they knew what happened.  
“I should probably feel a bit of remorse for shooting unarmed people, but they were raiders. I don't have much sympathy for them, after dealing with them in Concord.”  
“After you spend more time in the Commonwealth, you'll come to dislike them even more,” Preston said, his face a look of pure disgust as he prodded them with the tip of his laser musket. Satisfied that they were dead, Irene grabbed their weapons. They were just pipe pistols, but they could sell them, or give them to the settlers.

They continued on. Preston pointed out different plants to Irene. Wild carrot flower, wild mutfruit, silt beans, and hubflowers were ones they found, and he told her what they were used for.  
“Why don't we take some mutfruit back to grow in Sanctuary?”  
Preston shook his head emphatically. “No, we don't want to. Wild mutfruit is a lot more sour than regular mutfruit. They aren't good for much; in fact, I can't think of anything they're used for.”  
Irene nodded, and they walked on. Almost an hour after they left Sanctuary, they ran across a huge gorge.  
“That's the Thicket Excavations. No one really goes there.”  
“Okay.” Irene looked at her map. “Wow, I can add locations to the map! I added it in, and it shows up! We're about halfway to Tenpines Bluff. We'll probably be there before much longer, if we don't come across anything else to fight.” The Inkspots song It's All Over but the Crying started playing on the radio, filling the silence.

They came across nothing more dangerous on their route, and after half an hour, they were at Tenpines Bluff. The settlers came out, guns drawn on them. “What do you want? We don't need any more trouble.”  
Irene and Preston put theirs away, and walked forward with their hands up. “Take it easy, we're with the Minutemen. We're here to help.”  
The red haired man put his gun away. “You're with the Minutemen? I didn't think you guys even existed anymore. We sent word with a passing trader, but we didn't think anything would come of it. Most people don't put much stock in them, after that bad business in Quincy.”  
“Well, the Minutemen are back and ready to protect the Commonwealth again,” Irene stated confidently. “Now, what did you need our help with? Raiders, was it?”  
“Oh yeah, we really need your help. I'm damn glad you're here. Some gang has been giving us trouble for a few months. They demand food and supplies, and in return they don't kill us. If we don't give them supplies, they'll kill us. They already killed one of us…” he trailed off, looking down at the dirt with misty eyes. He cleared his throat, and spoke again. “We know where they're coming from, but we're farmers, not fighters. We can take them on. If you do this for us, we'll think about joining the Minutemen.”  
“Alright, mister, you've got yourself a deal.” Irene shook his hand.  
“Where are the raiders located?” Preston queried, shifting his weight.  
“Corvega Assembly Plant, not far from here.”  
Irene nodded. “I know the place,” she said, looking at Preston. “I can get us there.”  
“Thanks. You know, with you around, the Commonwealth is looking a lot brighter.” The settler walked away to the tato field.

Preston pointed out a man next to a brahmin. “That's a trader. They wander around the wasteland, selling all sorts of things. Some only sell armor, or weapons, or medicine. Others sell anything and everything. We can sell the equipment we took off of the raiders back there.”  
Irene walked towards the balding man. “Hello.”  
“Hello there, Lucas Miller. I sell armor for Old Man Stockton's outfit. Been doing that for twenty years. You looking to buy?”  
Irene pulled out the weapons, armor, and clothing from the three raiders they'd killed. Miller and she haggled for a while, until they settled on two hundred and thirty caps for the lot. He also gave her some tips about armor; she said that this was her first time out of a Vault, but nothing more than that.

Done with their trading, they headed south to the raiders' hideout. Irene told Preston that it was an old factory, where they used to make cars. She didn't know if anything dangerous would be on the site, but it was better to keep a wary eye open. It would probably take them an hour to get there, if they didn't run into anything. After forty-five minutes, they entered Lexington.  
“Be careful here, Irene. There's a lot of feral ghouls here.” Preston got low to the ground, creeping forward softly. Irene followed suit. She hadn't faced a feral ghoul before, and she wanted to put it off for as long as possible. Luck was with them, and they made it to the factory entrance without running into any ghouls. Now they had to deal with the raiders. Irene could see a few on the top walkways of the building.  
“Preston, what's the range on your musket?”  
“Not enough to take out the ones on the top, sorry.”  
“Damn. How about we try to sneak in? If we get caught, I throw a Molotov, we kill the ones we can reach, then enter the building.”  
Preston nodded. “Best idea I can think of.”

They followed Irene's plan, sneaking forward slowly. So far, the raiders were all talking to each other. There was a spotlight sweeping back and forth, but the three of them kept close to the building, where it couldn't reach. A turret was sitting idle, but they could hear its motor running even from this distance. It was only dormant. They still needed to be careful as they crept along. As they got closer, Irene could see three raiders clustered on the platform above the turret. They had their eyes on the door; she wouldn't be able to get in with them there.  
“I'm going to throw a Molotov at those three,” she whispered to Preston, “can you focus on the turret?”  
Preston cranked his musket, and nodded. Irene counted down slowly, then threw the Molotov. It arced up, and fell right in the middle of the raiders. It burst, spreading accelerant on them, and the flames covered them as they screamed. Irene could hear other raiders, higher up on the building, wondering what was happening. Preston focused on the turret, and she joined him, using her pipe pistol this time; she was running low on 10mm ammunition. Soon it exploded. They ran forward to grab scrap from it, and to loot the dead raiders. They found some circuitry, ammunition, and useful gears. On the raiders, they found a couple pipe pistols, a submachine gun, lots of ammunition, and some Jet. Irene grabbed them, and a gas mask one of the raiders was wearing. She could sell it if that merchant was still at Tenpines Bluff. No other raiders were around, so they opened the door and snuck into the factory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading another chapter! A shorter chapter than that earlier behemoth. Comments and kudos are always welcome. Let me know if y'all think the pacing for the story is too slow, or too fast. I'm always open to suggestions!
> 
> I'm basing their timing on how long it took me, in-game, to do the same things. I kept checking the clock on my Pip-Boy. Also, I don't know how long Lucas Miller said he'd been working. My cat starting hacking up a hairball at that moment, so I got a little distracted, and I can't find anything online about it. I think it was twenty years, though, so that's what I'm going with!


	11. Cars, Trucks, and Raiders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irene heads into the Corvega Assembly Plant with Preston and Dogmeat, to wipe out the raiders stationed there. Stealth only takes them so far, and they end up in a fire fight.

As soon as they entered and let their eyes adjust to the bright light, Irene's attention was drawn to a shiny box taped to a wall. She noticed the trip wire beneath it.  
“Do you know anything about disarming a trap?” she whispered as she turned to Preston. She pointed to the booby trap, and Preston inched forward to take a closer look.  
“I think I can do it. The bomb itself is just taped there; to trigger the explosion, this weight over here,” he said pointing to it, “hits the pressure trigger when the trip wire is broken. We just detach the bomb from the wall, and disengage the trip wire.” He showed Irene what he was doing as he did it. They snuck over to the right side of the room, now that they didn't have to worry about a bomb. Irene saw a Pre-War car, still on display. She remembered her dad teaching her how to drive, because all of her friends had gotten their license before her and she was jealous. She hadn't gotten much practice in before the bombs fell. She heard a splashing noise coming from one of the side rooms. She snuck forward; a raider was using the toilet, his back to her. She aimed her gun at his head, and let off two quick shots. He slumped forward, dead. Preston scooted forward to check what he had, as Irene turned away. It reminded her too much of her dad. Preston put the pipe pistol in his bag, along with some ammunition, caps, a stimpak. He handed the two grenades he'd found to Irene, and she put them in one of the waist pouches on her belt.

They waited a few minutes to see if the shots would be investigated. Nothing happened, so they crept back to the room. Garvey put a typewriter in his bag. When Irene looked at him like he was crazy, he shrugged. “It's good salvage.”  
Irene sighed, and they moved forward to a set of blue double doors. She nodded to Preston to get ready, then slowly eased open the doors. They didn't creak like she thought they would, but the corridor ahead of them was brightly lit. It was blocked at one end with piles of old furniture, but there were two doors on either side; one of them had to lead somewhere. They snuck forward, and saw a raider with his back to them in the doorway on their left. Preston quietly shot him in the head, and he went down instantly. The sound of the shot was louder than they anticipated.  
“What was that?” A raider walked back and forth on the other side of the pile of furniture. Irene, Preston, and Dogmeat hunkered down and stayed still, hoping they wouldn't be noticed.  
“Eh, it must have been nothin'. Maybe I should cut down on the Jet.” The raider wandered off, and Preston and Irene breathed sighs of relief. They peeked into the room, and saw a mesh bag of caps sitting in a desk drawer. Irene crept forward, and put them in her bag; there had to be at least thirty in there, and every single cap helped. She also took the dead raider's gun. It was a pipe pistol, but looked different than the others; its sights glowed green. They snuck into the room on the right of the hallway. It had a hole in the wall, leading to another room, and they found a pack of Fancy Lads Snack Cakes and a few more caps.

“Huh?” A raider's legs appeared around the corner. Without thinking, Irene shot them twice; one shot hit the in the torso, but the other one only grazed their neck.  
“Ow! What the-” He turned around, and let off a shot before Preston let loose a shot of his own, cutting the raider's remark short as the laser bored through their head. Luckily, the raider's bullet missed Preston's head by at least six inches.  
“Shit! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!” Irene ground her teeth in frustration. _They were right there! How did I miss so badly?_  
“It's okay, you were rushed. You'll know do better next time,” Preston reassured her. “Despite all our practice, this is our first real fight since Concord, and you were really lucky that time.”  
“What was that? Hey, Grinder, you okay? Where are ya?”  
Irene and Preston both reloaded their guns. She grabbed the dead raider's gun, and a stimpak she could see sticking out of a pocket on his leg. They continued to sneak forward; they might be able to sneak through this, still. They crept down the stairs at the end of the hallway, grabbing a couple cigarette packs and some lightbulbs that were lying on the ground. They could hear raiders talking down the stairs, and readied their weapons. They quickly rounded the corner of the stairs, into a locker room of some sort, and fired on the two raiders they saw. Irene was able to shoot one in the leg, and then the head, while Preston fired two shots at the other raider's head. They had some cloth mask covering their face, and they could smell burned fabric from where the laser had passed. Quickly looting a chem box, they found some stimpaks, Med-X, and a thing of Jet. Continuing up the stairs, they stopped at the top.

An open doorway led out onto the factory floor. From the sound of it, that's where most of the raiders were.  
“Are you ready for this, Irene?”  
“As ready as I'll ever be,” she said with a wry grin. Preston nodded, and all three of them walked forward. There were four raiders milling about in the room in front of them. Dogmeat ran forward, bit the leg of the furthest one, and dragged him down and away. Preston and Irene focused their shots on the other three; after five shots, they were dead. Dogmeat's raider kicked him in the ribs, making the dog yelp in pain, and got up. He aimed his gun, but Irene and Preston both shot him before he could fire.  
“What the hell is going on? Who's shooting? Find 'em, and kill 'em!” a voice roared out loudly. Spotlights swept across the factory, and six more raiders scrambled around. Another one, taller and more muscular than the rest, stood on a platform with a couple old offices. There were turrets on top of the offices roofs, and Irene saw them whirr to life. She, Preston, and Dogmeat charged to the metal stairs on the left, which led to the office. Irene used the Pip-Boy's targeting system to aim her shots; this was a fight for her life. They ran to the first office, and crouched behind the metal desks for cover. Two raiders tried to charge them, but fell to Dogmeat's teeth and Irene's bullets. Preston focused on the one who appeared to be the leader, who'd told the others to kill them. The other raiders kept trying to charge them, but Dogmeat and Irene kept them away from Preston as he focused on the leader. Irene could hear bullets whistling as they passed her, and she felt one graze the leather armor of her right arm, but she stayed focused. Finally, no more raiders came at them.  
“Argh! I'll kill ya for ruining this for me!” The leader, who had stayed behind cover before, now charged them. Irene and Preston both let loose shots, aiming at his head. They all hit, making his head a mass of holes. He dropped, and Irene sighed in relief.  
“Now we can see go back to Tenpines. Oh my god, I think that's a Grognak comic!” Irene ran to the second office.  
“Irene, wait! The turrets-!” Preston tried to grab her, but he wasn't fast enough. The second turret sensed her, and let loose a hail of bullets. Irene fell to the ground, blood staining her suit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A cliff-hanger! Mwahahaha! *rubs hands together evilly* Don't worry, I'm no George R.R. Martin, I don't kill off characters unless I absolutely have to, and never a main character. I was worried that our heroes were a little too over-powered, taking on all of these raiders without getting hurt. And yes, Irene is a huge nerd. Such a nerd, in fact, that a Grognak comic makes her forget about a live turret.
> 
> Raiders love traps, Gunners love traps, they're a way of life if you're a fighter in the Commonwealth. Preston may not use them, but he sure knows about them. And Irene just can't get enough knowledge.


	12. Irene is Stupid (But Only for a Little Bit)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irene and Preston deal with Irene's injuries in the Corvega Assembly Plant. Finished helping the settlers at Tenpines Bluff, they head to Diamond City. Along the way, as they help others in need, Irene learns that the Commonwealth can overwhelm even the most well-prepared, and that human kindness is something sorely needed in this new world.

Preston and Dogmeat dragged Irene into the second office, onto a mattress in there. Dogmeat licked her face, her hands, her hair, whining. She felt something wet on her left arm and leg, something watery, and pain. Strong, angry, persistent pain. She saw Preston step out, and fire and the roof. She heard something explode above her. She saw sparks and metal flying. She saw Preston duck back inside the shelter, laying down his laser musket to look at her.  
“You're going to be okay, Irene,” he said in a low, soothing voice. He pulled a can of water and some tweezers out of his bag. “I can see a couple of the bullets, so I'm going to pull them out. It's going to hurt, but we can't leave them in you.” He grabbed a pool cue that was laying on the ground, and broke it over the back of a chair. “Here, bite down on this if the pain gets to be too much,” he told her as he helped her get the fattest end into her mouth.

She bit down hard as Preston dug the bullets out of her arm and thigh. She screamed as she felt the sharp metal of the tweezers irritating her already hurt flesh. He pulled two bullets out of her arm, and three out of her thigh.  
“Damn, these two are deeper than I thought.” Preston dug in his pack, and brought out the vial of Med-X they'd found earlier. “I'm going to use the Med-X to dull the pain, because these two bullets are really deep. It may still hurt; I'm sorry.” He jabbed the vial into her leg, and she felt sweet numbness flooding her system. She felt floaty, and calm. She heard two bullets clink onto the floor, and she felt Dogmeat licking her face again  
“I'm going to use a couple stimpaks to heal you up, okay?”  
“Mmhmm, whatever,” Irene replied, a serene smile slowly spreading across her face. She wasn't in pain anymore; what else mattered? Preston injected a stimpak into her arm and her thigh.  
“That's going to take a few minutes to fully heal, you just rest.” Preston rested next to her, taking a sip from a can of purified water.  
Irene hummed in acknowledgement, and closed her eyes. Preston had told her to rest, after all.

Irene woke up to Preston shaking her, and a dull ache in her arm and leg.  
“Wake up, Irene, wake up.”  
She sat up, then grabbed her head. It hurt, like it was about to split open. “Ohhhh, what happened?”  
“You were stupid is what happened!” Preston snapped, livid with anger. “What were you thinking? Were you not thinking at all? Is that what happened? You ran into a live turret and got shot! You're lucky the bullets missed any major veins or arteries; if they hadn't, you would have bled out and died!”  
Irene blanched; she'd been so excited about the comic, one she hadn't read before, that she'd forgotten about the turret. “I'm so sorry, Preston. I got excited, about the comic, and it just slipped my mind.”  
“You can't let things like live turrets “just slip your mind”. Out here in the Commonwealth, things like that get you killed. You're good at surviving out here, better than I would have expected from a Pre-War Vault dweller. Nowadays, even a kid knows better than to get so excited they forget their surroundings. If you do, you die, or get captured by raiders, or mauled by an animal, or any of the other terrible things that can happen out here!” Preston sighed, rubbing his hand over his face. “You're a good kid, Irene. There are too few good people in the Commonwealth these days. Besides, you have Shaun to think of. If you die, who's going to rescue him? You have to be careful, for his sake if not your own.”  
“I'm sorry,” she said in a small, tired voice. Dogmeat licked her face, whining. “I'm okay, boy,” she told him as she gave him some head scratches.  
“Just be more careful, in the future. Hopefully it never happens, but who knows when you'll only have yourself to rely on.”

Irene slowly stood up, testing her leg, and she shielded her face from Preston. She felt foolish now, rightfully so. She hadn't meant to scare him like that; she didn't like him being angry with her. Preston busied himself putting things back in his pack, and searching an old steamer trunk behind them. He found an automatic pipe rifle, three Molotovs, and two grenades. He grabbed the Grognak comic on the desk, and held it out to her. She took it, and put it in her bag. Convinced that all the raiders they'd found were dead, they decided to do one last sweep to see if there were any other, and to see if there was anything salvageable. In a kitchen they found a couple boxes of Dandy Boy Apples, as well as some plastic plates, silverware, a pot, and a pan. Otherwise, it was mostly scrap. There were cans, bottles, cups, ashtrays, hammers, plungers, coolant, and other miscellaneous. They also found a total of one hundred and forty-two caps in their search. They retraced their steps back through the factory, and exited the building.

The sun was lower in the sky when they got out; it had taken them much longer than they thought to clear out the raiders, thanks to Irene's rest from the Med-X. According to her Pip-Boy, it was around 4 p.m. They didn't speak on the way back to Tenpines Bluff. The sounds of Diamond City Radio filled the air, and Dogmeat ran ahead of them. When they reached the settlement, the red haired man from before waved at them.  
“Did you find those raiders?”  
“Yeah, we took care of them. You won't be bothered by them anymore.” Despite her injuries, Irene was proud of what they'd done.  
The man grinned. “That's the best bit of news we've had in weeks. Here, something for your troubles.” He handed them a small bag with a hundred caps. “We'll join the Minutemen, too. The only way things will get better around here is if we stand up with each other. You can count on us if you need help down the line.”  
“That's great news! Say, there's a settlement nearby, a new one, called Sanctuary. That's where we're from. Do you think you could form up a supply line? You've got a lot of tatos, and we've got a great builder in our settlement. His name is Sturges, and he can fix just about anything. We could get a nice bit of trade going.”  
The settler was pensive for a few moments, then walked away to the others. They talked for a while, then he came back.  
“Sure. My son's been wanting to explore a bit, do more than just farm tatos. Where's this Sanctuary located?”  
They pointed out the location on a map, and the man nodded. They shook hands as he thanked them again, and they set off back home.

A few minutes from Tenpines, they saw a man walking with a dog. Dogmeat ran up to him, tail wagging and tongue lolling out of his mouth.  
“Hey there! Who's a good dog, huh? Who's a good boy?” The man knelt down and gave Dogmeat scratches that made his tail wag even faster and harder. Irene and Preston walked up to him. He looked up, and smiled at them.  
“Hello there. Name's Gene. Good dog you've got with you, but he's a little lonely. What do ya say to buying a playmate for him? I'm selling her.”  
“Why are you selling your dog? Is something wrong with her?” Preston queried, a little suspicious.  
Gene shook his head. “No, nothing like that. I love dogs, but I have to make a living somehow. So I raise them, train them right, and sell them. I'm blue for weeks after, but then I get a new puppy, and start all over again. She's good, healthy, is gentle with kids, but can sense raiders long before you'll see them. Two hundred and fifty caps for her.”  
Irene looked at Preston, her amber eyes large and pleading. Preston sighed, and nodded.  
“Yay! We'll buy her.”  
“Are you sure? It's not that I don't want to sell her, I just want to make sure you'll take good care of her.”  
“Don't worry, I love dogs too. We'll take good care of her, especially when we get back home.”  
Gene looked at them, his eyes narrowing. “Yeah… okay, sure. You don't look like you'll eat her or anything.” He turned to the dog. “This is your new owner. She's gonna take care of you now. You listen to her. Be a good girl,” he sniffed, his voice cracking. “I gotta go now. You take care of her for me. Bye-bye.” He walked away, sniffling. Irene felt sorry for him, and the dog, who whined a little. Irene knelt by the dog, letting her sniff her hands.  
“Hey girl, aren't you a pretty dog? I know you miss him, but we're going to give you a new home. You'll have a new buddy as well. Dogmeat, say hello to your new friend.”

They continued on their way, their new dog and Dogmeat gamboling around them. Back in Sanctuary, they unloaded their packs, storing scrap in the workbench, and food in the root cellar. Preston, having made a quick stop into the house he was staying in, gave Irene a flare gun.  
“Now that you're allied with the Minutemen, you'll want one of these. It's a flare gun. Use it to signal for the Minutemen to come help. Not much use now, but when we have more allied settlements it will be more useful.”  
“Thanks, Preston. I really appreciate it.” Irene was touched by his concern, but she also had other things to worry about. “I know it's soon, but I'm going to head to Diamond City tomorrow. Do you still want to come with me?”  
“Absolutely! I'm not about to let you wander off on your own, especially all the way to Diamond City. It's in the old Boston ruins, so it'll take at least a day to get there. Besides, I've been there before, and you haven't; I can show you the way. We should make an early night tonight, then we'll be able to travel more tomorrow.”  
“Alright, sounds good to me. See you in the morning, Preston.”  
“See you in the morning, Irene. Sleep well.”

Irene woke up to Preston shaking her awake.  
“Irene, time to get up. We have to get an early start for Diamond City.”  
“Gwah. Go away,” she slurred, still stuck in the pleasant dream she was having. Preston shook her more insistently, but she waved her hands at him to make him go away, pulling the blanket over her face. Finally, Dogmeat stuck his head under the blanket, and licked her ear. She bolted upright.  
“Eeewww, Dogmeat! What was that for?”  
Dogmeat just stared at her and whuffed, then walked away with Preston. Irene changed into her usual clothes. _Is it cloudy today? It's not usually this dark._ When she checked her Pip-Boy, she realized why. She stormed out to the cooking fire, furious.  
“Preston Garvey, it's four in the morning!”  
“Hush, you'll wake everyone up. Eat your breakfast.”  
Irene sullenly accepted the plate of radroach sausage, corn, and tato hash. “Is this payback for me getting shot in Corvega? Because if it is, I doubly promise never to do something that stupid again. I'm not enjoying this dim… is it morning, or is it night? It's so early, or late, that I can't really tell.”  
Preston shook his head, and continued eating. Irene sighed, then continued chowing down on her food as well. It was really good hash, if she ignored the fact that it was made from bug meat.

After their breakfast, Preston told Irene to pack her bag. She grabbed four cans of purified water this time, and more of the mole rat jerky. She also added stimpaks, some caps, and the stash of chems she wanted to sell. They still hadn't had a major trader in Sanctuary, and Preston told her Diamond City was full of permanent stores. She met up with Preston and Dogmeat at the bridge, and they headed south.  
“We just follow the road south until we get to the Boston ruins. Should be easy, if there are no raiders, animals, or feral ghouls we run across.”  
Irene turned on Diamond City Radio, cringing as she heard Travis bungle another ad, this one for a salon. _Wait a minute, they have someone who cuts hair! I can get my hair cut!_ Irene still hadn't cut her hair yet. That was one thing she was vain about; if her hair was going to be cut, she wanted it to look good. Now she was glad she'd brought some extra caps with her.

They ran into two raiders, who attacked them. Preston and Irene were able to dispatch them with only a couple shots.  
“Up ahead here is a place where we can do some trading, if you want to take what they have,” Preston told Irene. “It's the Drumlin Diner. Trudy, the woman who runs it, will give you a fair deal.”  
They walked further down the road, and Preston pointed out the place. As they got closer, they heard a man outside yelling.  
“We had a deal! Now hand over the caps!”  
“I ain't giving you poison pushers anything!” a voice yelled back from inside the building. “Do you know what that junk has done to my boy?”  
“He bought them fair and square, Trudy. It ain't out fault if he's all strung out. Don't make me come in there and shoot up your little trading post,” the man threatened. He was dressed all in black leather, a gun in his hands. A person in leather armor stood next to him, with a shotgun.  
“What's going on here?” Preston stepped forward, his laser musket at the ready. The two people swung around, pointing their weapons at Irene and Preston.  
“Ain't nothing that involves you. Go away.”  
Irene stepped forward, her hands stretched out in a placating gesture. “Just take it easy. Lower your weapons, and we can talk.”  
“Or else it will involve us,” Preston added.  
“Whoah, okay. No need to make things more complicated,” the man said, his tone reminding Irene of a shiny oil slick. “It's just a little business disagreement. Trudy's son bought some… merchandise, on credit. I want my money. Trudy refuses to pay. I tried reasoning with her, but she just don't see sense. If you make her give me what's mine, I'll give you a hundred caps.”  
“No-”  
“Deal.” Irene cut Preston off, placing her hand on his arm. He looked at her like she was crazy, but she shook her head slightly. “We'll go inside and see if we can talk Trudy into settling this without trouble.”

She pulled Preston into the diner. A grey haired woman in a plaid shirt pointed a gun at them.  
“Why's one of the Minutemen siding with that snake? He ain't getting' his money, period.”  
“We're not on his side. I just wanted to hear your side of the story, but I didn't think he'd let us in unless he thought we were helping him,” Irene explained in a low tone. Preston relaxed next to her. _He actually thought I'd side with some glorified raider?_ Irene was a little hurt, but she'd talk about it later.  
“You're a smart kid. He's a chem-pusher; came here all friendly, gave my boy some Jet, enough to get him hooked. When he needed a fix, Wolfgang sold him a bunch of the stuff “on credit”. Now he wants his money, but I ain't giving it to him.”  
Irene nodded. “Do you want our help taking him out? I'm fine with getting rid of another chem dealer, but I don't want you to end up in trouble for it.”  
“His only partner is out there with him. Anyone else is either his victim or a competitor. Either way, no one'll miss him.”  
“You okay with this, Preston?” Irene turned to him. She was fine with killing him; he'd shown that he didn't just deal chems, he tricked people into becoming addicts. She didn't know if Preston would feel the same way. “I'm killing him, no matter what, but I understand if you want to sit this one out. He's not a raider.”  
“He may not be a raider, but he's still a threat to the people of the Commonwealth. I'll fight at your side.”  
Dogmeat barked, and Irene laughed. “You're in too, huh boy?” She readied her 10mm pistol, deciding to use some of her precious ammo. “Let's kill the scumbag.”

Irene and Preston walked out, their guns ready. The chem dealer was too arrogant, or too stupid, to think that they weren't on his side.  
“So, what did she say? You got my caps?”  
“No dice. We're ending you here.” Irene opened fire, Preston with her. Dogmeat ran forward to the partner, biting their arm and dragging it, and their shotgun, down. He was careful to stay out of the way; Irene would have to tell him what a good, smart dog he was after this. She focused on Wolfgang. She fired five shots, hitting him in the torso and arms, with one grazing his neck. _Dammit, I need to work on my aim. It's been too long since I used this gun. Maybe Trudy has some bullets for it._ Preston shot him in the head, killing him. Dogmeat yelped, having been shaken off. Irene and Preston focused their attention on them, and they quickly died. Irene decided to loot them, taking everything they had, even their clothes. She didn't feel that they deserved anything. Trudy could deal with the bodies. They walked back into the diner, and the older woman smiled at them.  
“I can't wait to see the crows feeding on those scumbags. Here, some caps for what you did. If you ever need to trade, my shop's open. I'll even give you a little discount.”  
“Will you be okay? Is there something we can do or get, to help your son off the chems?”  
“There's Addictol, which supposedly cures addictions, but it's too expensive. No, we'll have to do it the old-fashioned way. It'll take a while, but we'll get through it. We always do. Now, what can I interest you in?”  
Trudy had a large supply of 10mm ammunition, and gave it to Irene for twenty caps plus all the weapons and clothes Irene had taken from the raiders and the chem dealers. She also gave Irene some fresh meat for Dogmeat, which made Irene warm to the woman even more.

Done with their business at the diner, they continued on the road south. It had been three hours since they left Sanctuary, and they heard some birds chirping. They passed old, abandoned cars and trucks on the road. These old, rusted masses of metal made Irene forlorn. It reminded her just how long it had been, and that the life she knew was gone forever. To make matters worse, many of the cars had skeletons near, or in, them, the previous occupants. After a while, she stopped looking at them, and focused on the road. They passed Lexington, making sure they stayed far away from it. None of them wanted to be caught by more raiders, or the feral ghouls Preston had mentioned. Soon they reached Cambridge, and Preston stopped them.  
“Wait. I hear shots.” They listened, and Irene could hear them, too. They were faint, but definitely coming from Cambridge.  
“We should check them out. There could be someone hurt.” Irene didn't want to abandon anyone to this cruel world. Preston nodded, and they moved towards the shots. They came up behind the Cambridge police station, and Irene saw a bunch of monsters rushing to the front. They looked like zombies from the old movies, but these were real. They were attacking three people, one of whom was in some kind of power armor.  
“Ferals. Just kill them, they can't be saved,” Preston told Irene. She nodded, and she, Preston, and Dogmeat joined the fight. It was long; the monsters just kept coming, and Irene lost track of how many there were. She just kept firing and reloading, until no more came.

The person in power armor lumbered forward, and removed their helmet. _Wow, this guy is handsome._ He looked like an old, Pre-War movie hero, all chiseled looks, dark hair and beard, and piercing eyes. She bet he could make women swoon. Right now, he was sweating, and looking at her and her companions with suspicion.  _He still looks handsome, though._  
“We appreciate the assistance, civilians, but what is your business here?”  
_Oh my god, even his voice is dreamy._  “We heard the shots, and wanted to help if someone was in trouble. Other than that, we're just trying to survive out here, like everyone else.”  
“The way you charged in and engaged those ferals, I believe that you're succeeding in surviving. Are you from a local settlement?”  
Irene hesitated; despite his good looks, she didn't know who he was, or what he wanted. “Do all these questions really matter? We helped you with the ferals, after all. You know we don't mean you harm.”  
The man nodded decisively. “You make a fair point. If I appear suspicious, it's because our mission here has been difficult from the beginning. If you want to continue pitching in, we could use an extra gun on our side.”  
“I won't help you until I know who you are. I've faced too many raiders already to possibly aid some more.”  
“Another fair point. I am Paladin Danse, of the Brotherhood of Steel. Over there is Scribe Haylen, and Knight Rhys.” The woman on the platform indicated herself as Haylen, but the man on the platform, obviously injured, just grunted. Irene and Preston nodded at them, and Paladin Danse continued. “We're on recon duty, but we're down a man, and our supplies are running low. I've been trying to contact my superiors, but the signal is too weak.”  
Haylen stood up. “Sir, if I may?”  
“Proceed, Haylen.”  
“I've modified the radio tower on the roof of the station, but it just isn't powerful enough. What we need is something to boost the signal.”  
“We've found that something; the Deep Range Transmitter at ArcJet Systems, not far from here. We infiltrate the facility, secure the transmitter, and bring it back here. Scribe Haylen will then contact the others. What do you say? Are you willing to give the Brotherhood of Steel a hand?”  
Irene thought about it. She didn't know what the Brotherhood of Steel was, but they operated like a military. They were obviously in need of help, but so was Shaun. “How long can you hold out here? We're on our way to Diamond City, to find my little brother who was kidnapped.”  
Paladin Danse looked pensive for a moment. “Our supplies will last eight, maybe nine days. Will you be back before then?”  
“Most likely, yes. What are you running low on? We have some stimpaks you can take, as well as some purified water and meat jerky.”  
Scribe Haylen spoke up, “We can use the stimpaks the most. Knight Rhys is badly injured.” She took the three stimpaks from Irene, gratitude shining in her eyes.  
Paladin Danse nodded. “We will see you when you get back, then. This station is our base.” He turned away, paused, then turned back. “I hope you find your brother, miss.” He tromped up the station steps, helping Scribe Haylen maneuver Knight Rhys into the station.

Preston looked at Irene. “Are you sure we should help them? We don't know who the “Brotherhood of Steel” is. They could be bad news for the Commonwealth.”  
“I know, Preston, but they're not raiders. They've got power armor, probably T-60, the best Pre-War armor, and raiders don't use that… Do they?”  
Preston shrugged. “I've heard of some using power, but I haven't seen it. The Gunners sometimes use power armor, but I don't know if they use T-60.” He fell silent. Irene had heard from the others in Sanctuary that the Gunners were a mercenary group here in the Commonwealth, and that they had been the ones who attacked Quincy. Knowing Preston like she did now, she knew he was thinking about the people the Gunners had killed, the people he'd been unable to protect, and the devestation of the Minutemen.  
Irene sighed. “Well, we'll figure it out later on. I couldn't risk it being innocent people who needed help. Let's get moving.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Thanks for reading this new chapter! Sorry I didn't post on Sunday, like I said I would, but work and homework interfered. Yay for working while in college! *sarcastic hand waving*
> 
> A couple notes here. I probably don't have to say this, but I'm saying it anyway: Please, please, pretty please don't try removing bullets like this at home. You can cause a lot of scarring and internal damage that way, if you don't have the proper medical training. This is fiction, and it's the Commonwealth, so no doctors. But the real world isn't like that, so go see a medical professional if you need bullets removed.  
> Med-X is supposed to be a pretty powerful painkiller, so I figure it would affect Irene hard.
> 
> Irene HATES getting up early. She didn't mind the first couple of times, because they were still at a reasonable decent hour, and she was going to find Shaun. But 4 am, over a week after her first forays into the Commonwealth? Nah, not her thing. Also, after the turret incident, Preston is more than willing to tell Irene when she's being silly or stupid. I mention food that isn't listed in the game, because just roasted meat would get really boring after a while. Food is a huge part of human culture, so they'd do more than just "roasted meat, maybe a stew, soup, or a noodle bowl". So radroach sausage hash, mole rat jerky, and more yummy food to come!
> 
> As for why Irene didn't immediately help Danse with the transmitter (especially with her crush on him), I figure it's something she wouldn't do. She's still looking for Shaun (he's less than a year old, remember?), and they're so close to Diamond City. She's happy to help when it's a small emergency, but she's not going to help someone on a large mission. That is, until she finds out Shaun is/isn't in Diamond City, or anywhere else she can reach, for that matter (which will be after facing Kellog). Hence why I made Danse and the others able to hold out for over a week. Poor baby's going to have a crisis after Kellog, so she'll need time to heal. Luckily, she'll have Nick Valentine with her by then!
> 
> Anyway, if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask! Comments and kudos are always welcome! Any mistakes are mine, I have no beta. If anyone wants to be my beta, shoot me a message on my tumblr, grittyknittygrrrl (I was 13, it has sentimental value now).


	13. Diamond City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irene, Preston, and Dogmeat finish up with their rescue of Paladin Danse, and head on towards Diamond City. Irene has her first run-in with super mutants, and then a plucky reporter and a pompous mayor. She gets patched up, takes advantage of the market, and finds the next link in her search for Shaun. But when the detective doesn't show, what will she do? Well, she's already looking for one person, looking for one more won't kill her.

They left the old police station, and continued through Cambridge. They passed the old college ruins. Irene mourned that CIT, the Commonwealth Institute of Technology, had been destroyed like this. She had wanted to attend CIT after she'd graduated school, before being frozen. Besides her own desires, though, she was sad of all the knowledge that must have been lost when the bombs fell. Were there any books left in there? After she found Shaun, she'd have to get some people together and see what they could find. If she could protect any knowledge, even a little, it would be worth it. The bridge just after it, heading in to Boston, was a wreck. There were holes in the concrete, which someone had covered with wooden planks. Luckily, the holes weren't large enough to take up much of the bridge. She skirted them, not wanting to test the old wood. The last thing she wanted was to fall into the water. A ship had slammed into the drawbridge, making it tilt up, adding to the danger. Hopefully, there would be a way to continue onto the other side. Irene heard voices, and crouched down. She saw raiders on the ship underneath the bridge, but they hadn't noticed her and the others.  
“I don't want to have to deal with them right now. Are you okay with just sneaking by them?”  
“Sure thing. Raiders are packed into the Boston ruins, along with super mutants and ghouls, and a shot can echo for a long time. Who knows how many would be brought down on us if we fight?”

They snuck along the bridge. There was a ladder leading up to the other side. Irene peeked over, and saw that the bridge was safe to climb down, and it wasn't too steep. They'd be able to come back this way, hopefully. Continuing on down the street, they heard more gunfire.  
“Seriously? I know the Commonwealth is dangerous, but three firefights in one day?” Irene looked up at the sky. “Someone up there must really not like me.”  
They ran forward, and found a group of people in old umpire uniforms firing at giant things… were they green?  
“Super mutants, and Diamond City security.”  
“The security is outnumbered.” Irene could see that three of the security were down, either dead or too injured to fight. The super mutants were worse than Preston had told here. They were big, at least eight feet tall, and muscular. They kept shouting things in their guttural voices, about the horrible things they'd do to the security if the super mutants won. Irene got out her trusty 10mm.  
“Well, I guess it's time to be heroic again.”

They joined the security forces, Irene and Preston's bullets adding to to the others. Dogmeat crept forward.  
“Stay back, Dogmeat! I don't want you getting hurt.” Irene focused her fire on a green animal that charged them. It looked like a giant, muscular dog, the same green as the super mutants. She poured bullets into its head, and it skidded to a stop before the closest security, dead. Seeing that there were no more, she turned her attention to the super mutants in the ruined building. They were smart, using cover when they weren't firing. Checking her bag, she saw she had a couple Molotovs left. Seeing an open spot with two mutants, she lobbed a Molotov in between them. It exploded, covering them in shards of hot glass and fire. They screamed, a deep, guttural scream, but she ignored it. With what they were shouting, they were at least as bad as the raiders, if not more. Irene kept firing and reloading, pouring bullet after bullet into them. She quickly switched to her pipe pistol; it was taking almost a full clip to take down one of the monsters, and she didn't want to run out of ammo. There were at least four more still shooting at them; they'd already killed two, plus the weird dog thing. She kept behind an old cement divider, using it as cover. One of the super mutants had an automatic weapon of some sort, and came out from behind cover. It yelled, and opened fire.

She didn't duck fast enough. A bullet tore into her arm, and made her yelp in pain. Preston saw her; he looked alarmed, and ready to run over to her. She waved at him to stay down. She didn't want him getting hurt, or killed, trying to help her. The super mutant's gun jammed; someone from security let off a couple shots, and it fell, holes in its head. The three others leapt down from the building, and rushed towards their defenses. How the hell can they still be running after that drop? Irene and the others poured bullets into them, and one by one they dropped. The closest fell right and slid a bit, its head facing Irene; she could see its face, still snarling in death. The security forces stood up, now that the threat was over. Preston and Dogmeat ran over to her, concerned. One of the security folk next to her helped her to stand. Her legs hurt after being crouched all that time.  
“Thanks for the help, strangers. You came at just the right time!” The man shook her hand, the one attached to her uninjured arm.  
“You're welcome, we're happy to help. Is this Diamond City? I'm new to the Commonwealth.”  
“Yep, this is the Great Green Jewel of the Commonwealth. You'll want to head inside. Doctor Sun can patch up your arm for ya. Here, take this with you.” He handed her a small metal tag from around his neck, engraved with a baseball diamond. “Give this to him. It'll let him know that it's on Diamond City security, so you won't have to pay. Least we can do for the help.”  
Irene smiled at him, her face bright with relief; she didn't know how much a proper doctor would cost. “Thank you very much!”  
The guard waved at them, then went back to his post.

Irene and Preston quickly looted the super mutants, since the security wasn't interested in the corpses. Then they followed the signs to the entrance. Irene realized that this was the old Fenway Park stadium. She remembered coming here for a game with her mom and dad, before Shaun was born. She'd been fourteen at the time, and they'd gotten hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, Nuka-Colas, and peanuts. Her mom had joked about bursting out of her clothes by the end of the game, and they'd all laughed and had fun. The Red Sox had won the game, and they'd been overjoyed. She sniffed at the recollection, missing her parents. _None of this should be happening, not to me, not without them._ Preston looked at her, slowing down. She blinked away her unshed tears, and nodded at him.  
“I was here before the War,” was all she said.

At the front, by the statue, they saw a woman in a red coat yelling at the closed door.  
“What do you mean, you can't open the gate? Stop playing around, Danny! I'm stuck out in the open here, and security just had a fight with some super mutants, for crying out loud!”  
A tinny voice echoed at her through a speaker. “I'm sorry, Ms. Piper, but I've got my orders. The Mayor's really steamed about that article you wrote. I'm sorry, I'm just doing my job.”  
At this, the woman grew more aggravated, and started waving her hands around. “Just doing your job? Protecting Diamond City means keeping out the big, scary reporter? Boo!”  
“I'm sorry, but Mayor McDonough's really, really upset. He's sayin' the article you wrote was all lies. Y'know, the article that has the whole city in a tizzy.”  
“Argh! You open this gate right now Danny Sullivan! I live here! You can't just lock me out!” The woman turned, and saw Irene and her friends. She motioned them closer, whispering, “Hey, you wanna get in to Diamond City?”  
Irene nodded, not sure what was happening. The woman smiled. “Good. Play along.” Her voice changed, becoming more calm. “What's that? You say you're a trader, up from Quincy? You've got enough supplies to keep the general store stocked for a whole month? Huh, you hear that Danny? Do you want crazy Myrna knowing you made her miss out on all of this, this merchandise? Or do you wanna let us in?”  
“Geez, okay, okay. You don't need to make it personal, Piper. Gimme a minute.”

The giant metal door creaked open, raised up by someone inside. The woman gestured to Irene. “Better get inside quick before ole Danny catches on to the bluff.” She scooted inside herself, to be stopped by an older, heavyset man in a patched suit.  
“Piper! Who let you back inside? I told Sullivan to keep that gate shut.” He shook his fist at her. “You devious, rabble rousing slanderer! I'll have you kicked out! The level of, of dishonesty in that paper of yours. I'll have that printer scrapped for parts soon enough!”  
The woman pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil. “Oooh, is that a statement, Mr. Mayor? 'Tyrant Mayor Shuts Down the Press'!” She turned to Irene. “Why don't we ask the newcomers? Do you support the news? The mayor's threatening to throw free speech in the dumpster.”  
Irene shrugged. “I always believed in freedom of the press. A true sign of democracy.” Preston nodded in agreement.  
The older man looked nervous, and started to stutter and backtrack. “Well, now, I mean, I didn't want to bring you two into this argument. No, no, no… You both look like Diamond City material.” His tone reminded Irene of many of the politicians before the War; sleazy, oily, and sycophantic. She immediately disliked him. He continued on, unwilling or unable to believe anyone wouldn't fall for his smarminess. “Welcome to the Great Green Jewel of the Commonwealth! Safe. Happy. A fine place to come, spend your caps, and settle down. Don't let this, this, muckraker tell you otherwise.”  
“We don't need your tourism spiel, thanks. I'm kind of bleeding from my arm here, which happened helping your outnumbered security protect your city from super mutants.” Preston glanced at Irene, obviously uneasy; she'd never been so sarcastic or rude before, but something in her gut told her something was off about this guy. The reporter snorted, then hid a grin behind her hands. Irene grinned at her. She liked this woman.  
“Ahem, well, was there anything in particular you came to our city for?”  
Irene became more serious. “Aside from seeing the doctor, yes. I'm trying to find someone. My baby brother, Shaun. He's less than a year old. Someone took him.”  
“Wait, your brother's missing?” The older woman looked simultaneously curious and serious. “You hear that, McDonough? What's Diamond City security going to do? Are they going to stand by while a kid looks for her baby brother all on her own?”  
“Hurrumph, don't listen to her. While I'm afraid our security can't handle every case that comes through here, I'm sure that one of our other fine citizens can help you.”  
Irene turned up at the mayor, opening her eyes wide and employing her best pleading, innocent ingénue look. “Please, mister Mayor, sir, I just want to find my brother. Surely someone as well-informed and knowledgable as you could point me in the right direction; this is your great city, after all.”  
The older man puffed up, falling for her flattery. “Well, there is one private citizen. He's a detective of sorts. Nick Valentine. He usually specializes in tracking down people for debts, or whatnot, but I'm sure he'd find time to help a distressed young woman such as yourself. Now, I have to get going. I'm sorry Diamond City security doesn't have time to help.”  
“Diamond City can't spare a single officer? What's the truth, McDonough? Why is it these kidnappings are never looked in to?”  
“I've had enough of you Piper! Consider you, and that little sister of yours, to be both on notice!”

The mayor stalked off through a gate, and into the city.  
“Yeah, just keep talking, McDonough! That's all you're good for!” The reporter, Piper, looked interested in Irene, and sidled up to her. “Nice work there, kid,” she said in an admiring tone of voice, “not everyone can claw information out of McDonough's tight fisted hands. Why don't you stop by my office after you visit Valentine? I think I just found my next story.” She grinned, then walked away into the city herself. A red-haired security officer waved Irene over as she walked past.  
“So, you're that trader from Quincy? She's pulled the wool over my eyes again, hasn't she?”  
Irene blushed. “I'm really sorry about that, officer. I just got caught up before I knew what was happening. I didn't mean to trick you, or lie.”  
He sighed. “You're not the first one Piper's pulled in over their heads. I appreciate you being honest with me. I would have let you both in, you understand, but the mayor…” Irene nodded; the mayor didn't seem like someone who'd take being told “no” very well. The security smiled at her. “You can head in to the city now. Hopefully Piper won't pull another fast one with ya. Welcome to Diamond City.”

Irene, Preston, and Dogmeat walked through the gate and into the stadium. Irene had to stop for a moment to catch her breath. This was the closest she'd seen to an actual city since being thawed. She could see buildings, metal ones, sprawling all the way to the end of the stadium. There was a smokestack rising up from the center, black smoke belching out of it. It was a hodgepodge of Pre-War and what they'd cobbled together, some buildings stacked on top of each other, some leaning against each other, some precariously perched on stilts, and walkways led to and from all sorts of places. Some of the buildings were actually old campers that had been refurbished. There were the stadium lights, which had wires running from them. She could hear people shouting further in, a riotous hubbub of voices. She could hear people chatting. She could hear kids laughing and playing. She could smell a mix of different foods cooking, as well as the smell of less-than-clean people. She could smell life. Irene's eyes started to tear up, because, despite everything, these people were making something new out of the ashes of the old world. When she found Shaun, she might talk to Preston about trying to do something like this in Sanctuary, or maybe Concord. If they could do something like this elsewhere in the Commonwealth, they would be one step closer to a better life, for everyone.

“Should we find this Nick Valentine person?” Preston touched Irene's elbow, not wanting to spook her. Irene tore her eyes off of the sprawl before her, and nodded. They walked down the stairs, and a young girl, who Piper had been talking to, stopped them.  
“Hey! Free paper to newcomers. If the Institute grabs you in the night, at least we warned you.”  
“The Institute?” Irene queried as she accepted the paper.  
The girl looked at her, shocked. “You ain't heard of the Institute? They snatch people in the night, and no one ever hears from 'em again. It's all in the paper. Better read up, before they grab you, too!”  
“Who's gone missing?” _If this Institute takes people, then maybe they took Shaun!_  
“Drifters, residents, snobs. Seems every year or so, someone disappears, and we all know why. You better be careful, newcomers. It's all in the paper.” The girl walked back to a wooden box, stood on it, and started hawking papers.

Irene and her friends continued onward, but she stopped when she saw the salon. _I can get a real hair cut!_ It would have to wait until they saw the doctor though. Her arm was hurting. Across from the salon was the doctor. He stared grumpily at her.  
“A new patient, a new file to open.” He sighed, as if everything in the world was on his shoulders, then saw her arm and became all business. “How long have you had that?”  
“About twenty minutes, doctor. Some super mutants outnumbered the security outside, and we helped stop them. The guard said to give you this.” She handed him the metal tag the guard had given her.  
The doctor nodded. “Let's get you cleaned up then. Sit here.” He showed Irene to a chair, then got his equipment. “Do you want a shot of Med-X, or not? In my professional opinion, you shouldn't need it, but you know your pain limit better than I do.”  
“I don't need it. Last time I took it, it hit me really hard. I don't want to do it again.”  
The doctor nodded, then worked on fixing her arm. After he removed the bullet, he stuck her with a stimpak. “Don't do anything strenuous with that arm for an hour. After that, you'll be fine.”  
“Thank you, doctor…?”  
“Sun. Don't ruin my hard work by dying out there.” Doctor Sun turned away to the chemistry table, and started working.

Feeling that she was dismissed, Irene went back to the salon. The young man working there looked at her.  
“You know, around here we call that hair cut the “scav special”. Little flecks of blood give it the extra touch. You want a hair cut?”  
“What are my options?”  
“Whatever you want! Shaves, braids, long cuts, short cuts, layering, I can do it all,” he crowed, “but it would be easier just to show ya. I've got a chair right here?”  
Irene sat down, and he smiled. “How do you want it?”  
“Short. It's just too difficult to deal with, what with how active I am. Something easy to take care of. I still want it to look good, though. Chin length, or thereabouts?”  
The man, John according to his mother smoking at the side, nodded. Locks of hair fell to the ground, and soon he pulled out a hand mirror. “How about it?”  
She looked. Her hair was a little shorter than chin length, but it looked full and slightly wavy. It had been so long since she'd had short hair, she'd forgotten it did that. She liked it though. Her bangs were neatly trimmed; she'd have to buy a pair of scissors for keeping them neat.  
“Thank you so much. I love it! How much do I owe you?”  
John wiped his scissors down, telling her it was fifteen caps. Irene counted them out, and gave them to him, plus five extra as a tip. She didn't know if tipping was still a thing, but she wanted to do it anyway; her hair looked great. He was surprised, but then smiled broadly as he thanked her.  
“You look nice. Should we haggle with the traders first, or find Valentine?” Preston sat on a bench next to Dogmeat, looking up at her.  
“I really want to sell this stuff. It's getting heavy to lug it around. Those super mutants sure like heavy weapons.”

As they walked further in to the market, a security guard stopped her.  
“You're new to Diamond City, right?”  
“Yes, officer. Is something wrong?”  
“No, no, I've just never seen you before. If you were new, I wanted to warn you about a raider bar set up in the old Theater District. It's called the Combat Zone. Nasty place. You should stay away from there; too many people don't come back.”  
“Thanks for the warning, officer. We'll make sure to avoid it.”  
The guard nodded at them, and continued on his rounds. Irene walked up to the gun and armor dealer, a small, dark haired man.  
“Hey, it's the new girl, right? What can I interest you in?” He smiled at her, a genuinely friendly smile.  
“New girl?”  
He chuckled. “Word travels fast in Diamond City. You'll get used to it. Name's Arturo Rodriguez. If you need protection, let's talk.”  
“Well, what do you have?”  
“Everything. If it's armor or guns, I have it. Ammunition, I've got it. They'll all keep you alive, for sure, but the secret is the little personal touches, the mods.”  
“Mods?” Irene hadn't heard of those before.  
“Never heard of mods, huh? They change your average pipe gun, or 10mm pistol, or whatever, into what you need. Install a new scope, expand the ammunition capacity, change the grip to one that works better for your hand, whatever. You spend time with your gear, and you'll have the answer to every problem. Here, a passing trader sold me too many of these. I'll show you how to install them.” He pulled a small wooden box out from behind his counter, and walked over to a workbench. Irene followed him, and she watched as he show her how to install the new scope on her 10mm pistol. It had the crosshairs painted a glowing green, just like her pipe pistol. Arturo told her that it was radioactive paint.  
“Sometimes you'll find a mod with the blueprints, but most of the time, you just need to know what to look for. If you ever have questions, talk to me and I'll be happy to help you. Now, anything you want to buy?”  
Irene sold the armor and weapons they'd looted from the super mutants, as well as some shotgun shells she'd found. She didn't like shotguns, so she could use the extra caps. Preston bought some extra fusion cells for his musket, since he was running low.

Done with Arturo, she and Preston went to find Nick Valentine. They didn't have to look far, because just around the corner was a neon sign that said detective, in capital letters. They turned down there, and Irene overheard some men working on one of the houses speaking.  
“… it's a code they've got. Follow the Freedom Trail. Then they know you wanna join the Railroad. Then, you get to fight the Institute, and help synths.”  
“Naw, the Railroad's just a myth. Ain't nobody that can stand up to the Institute. They're just too strong. Keep your head down, and everything will be okay.”  
“But why? How do you know the Railroad's a myth? I've heard the tapes they leave. Follow the Freedom Trail. That's what they say.”  
The other man scoffed, and walked away. The other one followed after him, still trying to argue his case.  
“Preston, what's the Railroad?”  
“Supposedly, they help protect synths, robots that look like people, from the Institute. Give them new names, new lives, and make sure the Institute doesn't take them back. Nobody really knows if they're real or not, just like the Institute.”  
Irene nodded. She liked the sound of this Railroad; it reminded her of the Underground Railroad she'd learned about in school which rescued slaves from the south back in the 1800s. They reached the door of the detective agency, and walked inside.

It was a small, cramped office. In front of a desk, a woman stood with her back to them, but she turned around when they entered. Her eyes were puffy, like she'd been crying. She sighed.  
“Another stray, coming in from the rain. Afraid you're too late. The office is closed.”  
“Closed? Why?” Irene panicked. _This can't be happening. This is the only place to help me find Shaun! This can't be happening. This isn't happening._ “I know you must be busy, but we really need to see the detective. It's an emergency.”  
The woman sighed. “I'm sorry, kid. I shouldn't be rude, it's just, the detective… he's gone missing.” She sniffled, wiping her nose with a piece of cloth.  
_Well, if that isn't ironic…_ “Are there any clues, anyplace we could look for him? We'd be happy to find him.”  
“He was working a case,” the woman said, brightening a bit, “Skinny Malone's gang kidnapped a young woman. He tracked them down to a hideout in the old Park Street Station.”  
“The one that was turned into a Vault?” Irene knew about that one; she'd always wondered how a subway station would make a good Vault, since there were so many openings for radiation.  
“Yep, that's the place. I told Nick he couldn't walk in, that it was a trap, but he smiled and headed out the door like he always does.” She started sniffling again, her eyes filling with tears.  
“We can find him. You have my word.” Irene was determined now. This detective was her only link to finding her brother. She had to find him, she had to.  
“Thank you. Nick should be easy to spot. He wears an old trench coat and hat getup. Please, hurry!” she pleaded.

Irene and Preston headed out the door.  
“I know where Park Street Station is. I can take us there from here, even with all the ruins,” she told Preston.  
He nodded. “Tracking down a missing detective, so that he can find your missing brother. It sounds like the start of a bad joke. Will we walk into a bar, I wonder?”  
Irene laughed. Maybe she shouldn't have, but she did think it was funny. Preston smiled, then continued, “It's a good thing we stocked up on ammo. I don't know who Skinny Malone is, but if anyone has a gang, then it isn't good.”  
“He sounds like an old gangster. Pre-War gangsters used to have names like that,” Irene explained to Preston, “Shark Pollard, Smooth Delilah, Eddie Winter, Tina 'The Smiler' Grantham. They were mob bosses. Did everything illegal. Eddie Winter was the big one, everybody was scared of him. Gangsters were all horrible, but Winter was the worst. He's someone I hope did die in the bombs.”  
“Well, their names sound better than Scorpion, or Gristle, or Killer, like the raiders have.”

After they rounded the corner, they saw a group gathered around two men. They got closer, their hands going to their weapons when they saw one man had a gun trained on the other.  
“Don't move, synth! What have you done with my brother?” the man with the gun yelled, his eyes wide and darting.  
The other man was shaking, his hands in the air above his head. “Kyle, I swear, I'm not a synth! Don't shoot, for God's sake, we're family!”  
“Put the gun down, now!” a security guard roared as he came on the scene, his own weapon trained on the man with the gun.  
“He's a synth. He'll kill us all!” The man raised his gun to fire, but the security shot him. He fell to the ground and the gun fell from his grasp; he wasn't breathing, but eyes wide open. Doctor Sun ran forward to check his pulse, but shook his head after a minute.  
“Kyle, no!” Riley fell to his knees, looking at his brother. “Kyle…” he murmured.  
More security guards came into the group. “Move along! Ain't nothin' to see here! No synths in Diamond City. Just you an' your damn paranoia!”  
Irene looked at Preston. “He was really going to shoot his own brother, on the maybe that he was a synth?” She was horrified. If synths were just fancy robots, then they might only have limited free-will, like Codsworth. It was the Institute that was the problem, not the synths. She felt sorry for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading another long chapter! I apologize for that, but knowing when to break them up isn't my best part. Unless you like long chapters; then I'm great. :)
> 
> You run into so many rescue opportunities on the way to Diamond City from Sanctuary. Like, what even? Irene doesn't know what's up either, she's just getting a little tired of it.
> 
> As for the token the security gives her; in this story, each security member gets a certain number of free, "injured in the line of duty" visits to Dr. Sun. Each token is engraved with that security member's name. They can give their token to other people to use, if those people do something like Irene and Preston did (helping security in a major way), and end up getting hurt. 
> 
> In case you're wondering which in-game hairstyle Irene has now, it's the Parisian Bob. I like to pretend the bangs are straight though.
> 
> Yes, Arturo gave Irene a free mod. He's a dad, and Irene looks really young for 17. It's why people still call her "kid". He felt sorry for her, especially since she doesn't seem to know much about the Commonwealth. Arturo has always been really nice to me, in all of my games, so I head canon him as a nice, decent person.
> 
> Eddie Winter was mentioned, yes. All you Nick Valentine fans will know where I'm going with this. As for why Irene hates gangsters so much, you'll have to find out later on in the story. Some of you may be able to guess; I'd love to see your speculations!
> 
> If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, feel free to comment here, or shoot me a message at my tumblr (grittyknittygrrrl). Comments and kudos are always appreciated!


	14. Finding a Missing Person, to Find a Missing Person

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Using Irene's memories of Pre-War Boston, they're able to navigate their way to the Park Street Station. During a fight with some ferals, Irene's darker side shows itself, frightening her. Finally, they reach the station, where they'll find the detective. Hopefully, alive.

Twilight was settling over the ruins as they exited Diamond City. The red-haired security guard from earlier waved at them as they left, and they waved back. Irene checked her Pip-Boy's clock. It was almost seven at night, but she didn't feel tired.  
“How are you feeling, Preston? Tired? It'll be about half an hour to get to Park Street Station, then who knows how long inside.”  
“I'm fine. I don't think I could fall asleep after that show back there, anyway. I've seen people killed before, but that…”  
Irene nodded; the incident had left a sour taste in her mouth. “Let's head out, then.”  
She turned left at the exit. In her mind, she was superimposing her memories of Pre-War Boston on top of the current ruins. She didn't know if the way there was clear, but she remembered enough to be able to get around. They were lucky she did; Preston didn't know this area well, and he'd never heard of Park Street Station. Once they exited the Diamond City defenses, they worked on making their footsteps quieter.  
“If you sense anything, Dogmeat, let us know.”  
Dogmeat whuffed at her. With his nose and hearing, they would hopefully be able to avoid any raiders or super mutants. Irene didn't want to bother with them right now, not when she needed to find this detective in order to find Shaun.

They crept eastward, based on Irene's recollections. Many of the buildings were boarded up, or reduced to piles of rubble. About ten minutes from Diamond City, they saw a wandering pack of feral ghouls. Dogmeat growled low, and Irene and Preston readied their weapons. She wished there was a way around them. At the same time, she knew if they didn't deal with these ferals now, they'd probably wind up regretting it later. These were moving differently than the ones she'd seen before. They were faster.  
“There's a lot of them, so focus on their legs. That way, we can stop them before they get too close, and then shoot them when they're on the ground.”  
Irene nodded; Preston's instructions were good ones. She checked how much ammunition was left in her pipe pistol. Luckily, she still had a full magazine. Nodding to Preston that she was ready, they crouched and opened fire. Two ghouls went down immediately, but five others turned towards them, and ran. Irene focused on their legs, just like Preston told her, but they were getting close, especially that one in the lead- Dogmeat leaped forward, catching it by the throat. He shook it as it let out a gurgling scream, until it stopped. Dogmeat let it go, but he was quickly surrounded by the others.  
“Dogmeat!” Irene screamed, and ran forward, changing her pistol for her tire iron. She swung it at every ghoul head she saw, and they crumpled like paper. One clawed at her arm, but didn't puncture her leather armor. Another one, this on the ground, tried to bite her foot. She kicked it in the head, then smashed it with her tire iron. She just kept smashing the heads.

“Irene! Irene, stop! They're dead.” She whirled around at Preston. She was breathing heavy, beads of sweat making some strands of hair stick to her face. Her tire iron dripped blood onto the ground, and she had chunks of ghoul and blood all over her. Wiping her face, she saw smeared blood when she looked at her hand.  
“They were hurting Dogmeat. I… I can't lose him, not him too,” she whimpered. She didn't know what had come over her. She had seen Dogmeat go under, heard him yelping in pain, and she lost it. “Wait, where's Dogmeat?” She whirled around, looking for him.  
He inched out from behind a concrete planter, whimpering. He was bleeding all over, and Irene ran to him. “It's okay, boy. You're going to be okay.” She snatched a stimpak from out of her bag, and hurriedly injected the medicine into Dogmeat. Preston grabbed a can of purified water, and poured it over the dog's coat, causing the blood to wash away. Irene saw that most of the injuries weren't deep, and were quickly closing up due to the stimpak.  
“I'm so glad you're okay,” she whispered as she hugged Dogmeat tightly. He whuffed softly, and licked tears from her face. She hadn't realized she was crying.

They stayed like that for a few moments, until Dogmeat wriggled out of her arms. He stood up, and wagged his tail. All of his injuries were clean.  
Preston handed Irene a rag. “It's to wipe some of that blood off.”  
“Thanks,” Irene said as she took it. She cleaned up as well as she could, but there were still some blood smears on her clothes. Preston took the cloth, and used a clean corner to wipe her face.  
“There, that's better. Are you feeling okay now?”  
Irene nodded. They quickly looted the ferals, and discovered two raiders, who hadn't been able to fight the pack off. Their corpses were searched as well, and they found several stimpaks, as well as more ammo. Continuing on their way east, they tried to be as quiet as they could. Soon, they reached Trinity Plaza.  
“It's not far to the station, now.” Irene informed Preston.  
“You see those metal spikes, with the blood on them, and all those bags of meat and bones?” Preston pointed to the Trinity Plaza building. “Super mutants use those around their buildings or camps. Who knows how many are there. We should avoid this area, if possible.”  
“Good idea. I don't want to face those things again.” Irene nodded, and they skirted the plaza. They continued east, passing the old Hubris Comics building. Irene was glad; it wasn't that far from the station, which means she was able to find her way around the ruins better than she thought. She'd been afraid she would lead them the wrong way.

They finally entered Boston Common. They found a robot, an old Protectron, which whirred to life when they came near it.  
“Welcome, patriot, to Boston Common. The start of the Freedom Trail,” it said in its robotic, monotone voice.  
“Hey, that's how that guy in Diamond City said to find the Railroad!” Irene was excited. Maybe they could teach her about the Institute, if that was who took Shaun.  
“Nobody knows if that's true or not. Besides, we have to find Valentine.”  
“I know that,” she retorted, “but I'm not going to be looking for Shaun forever. That's the station there.” She changed the subject, not wanting Preston to continue. Next to the station, they found an old Nuka-Cola machine that still had a couple bottles in it. Irene swiped them; she missed Nuka-Cola. They opened the blue doors to the station and snuck in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, and thanks for reading! Short chapter, because the next one is going to be long. 
> 
> I've had someone on tumblr ask me why Preston is okay with looting bodies, since he's an honorable Minuteman and all. My reasoning is that this is post-apocalyptic. They simply don't have the resources to waste by ignoring what someone else has, just because that other person is dead. If there's armor, weapons, ammo, caps, or chems, you bet they're going to take them. It's practicality. Our qualms about looting the dead simply aren't a viable way of life in the Fallout Universe.
> 
> I feel horrible for hurting Dogmeat. He's just a precious puppy, but I ran into some ghouls on the way (I'm still doing the Irene play through), and they moved really, REALLY fast. Faster than the other ghouls I've run into in the game. I thought it would be an interesting thing to work in, but I'M SORRY DOGMEAT! I really hate hurting the characters, so writing stuff like this is almost torture for me.
> 
> Darn that gangster for showing up when Irene was thinking! You will eventually find out later on why Irene hates mobsters, but I don't know whether it will be when she meets Nick, or when Nick asks her for help with Eddie Winter. It depends on where it fits best.
> 
> Thanks again for reading, and as always, questions, suggestions, comments, and kudos are always welcome!


	15. Nick Valentine, Synth Detective, and the Rescue from the Malevolent Mobsters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irene and company enter Park Street Station to rescue Nick Valentine. The detective is her only lead for finding Shaun. Fighting their way through gangsters, they search for the detective. He's not exactly what they expected, but he can find Shaun.

As soon as they snuck into the station, they heard voices, but couldn't make out what they were saying. They descended the old, non-functioning escalator, keeping as quiet as they could. As they got closer, they heard the gangsters.  
“… lock him up, like he ain't got the balls to just kill the detective.”  
“Don't let his new girl hear you say that,” a sandpaper voice said, “or she'll swing that bat of hers at your face until you ain't got no face left.”  
Irene and her companions snuck forward, but they couldn't see anyone through the doorway. Suddenly, a metal door swung open, and a man walked out. He saw them.  
“Intruders! Kill 'em, they're here for the detective!”  
Four other gangsters came out from behind the corner of the ticket counter. They were all bunched together, and this building was tile, no wood, so Irene threw a Molotov at them. They screamed and dropped their guns, trying to put out the fires on themselves, but Irene let bullet after bullet explode from her gun. Within a few moments, they were dead. Irene looked at them her face hard. They were a mix of people and ghouls, but not feral ones. These must be the kind the others had told her about, where the radiation only affected their appearance and life span, not their brains. They all wore fedoras or trilbies, and looked like Pre-War gangsters. Irene had never understood the interest in them, especially after her mom-  
“Look out!” Preston shot a gangster who had come from a hallway on the other side of the room. He went down, dead. “We need to clear an area before we start contemplating.”  
Irene nodded, embarrassed that she'd been caught unaware like that.

The followed the hallway where the surprise shooter had come from, and found the bathrooms. No one else was in there, but they were able to disarm a stall door that someone had rigged with a tension trigger and a grenade; it had been meant to explode when someone opened the door.  
“Why would somebody do this? Wouldn't it just hurt one of your own gang?” Irene couldn't see the sense in it. Preston simply shrugged. They took some soap, and Irene put a can of gasoline in her bag. They could always use it for the turrets. They continued on, back to the main room, and past the ticket counter. There was another trap down the stairs, this one using a bathroom scale and a homemade bomb, but they disabled that one too. They could hear more gangsters talking in the old station, and they readied their guns. Irene traded her glow-sighted 10mm for an automatic pipe pistol she'd found. She ended up being glad she did; most of the gangsters also had automatic weapons. While there was a lot of cover for them to hide behind, Irene and Preston were able to stay in the stairway. Crouching, they were hidden by the wall, meaning the gangsters had to come to them. They able to take out all of them this way, with Irene's automatic pistol a blessing. Their bodies had a lot of caps for Irene and Preston to take, as well as ammunition and weapons. Many of the carried either 10mm pistols, so she found a lot of ammo for her pistol. As they continued down the tracks, they were glad they didn't run into any more gang members. They did find quite a bit of food and salvage though, including a bottle of Nuka-Cola Quantum, glowing blue and unbroken in a pile of rubble. Preston didn't complain as Irene grabbed whatever she could find as they walked; he knew as well as she did how much Sanctuary needed it.

At the end of the tracks, the construction site for the Vault still had equipment in it. Did they even complete it before the bombs fell? Were people even able to make it? Irene shook her head, clearing those thoughts away. She couldn't handle them right now, not when they needed to find the detective. Preston pointed out some gangsters to her. They were patrolling the area, complaining about how there wasn't any need to. Irene grinned wolfishly; she was going to love proving them wrong. She and Preston readied their weapons, then opened fire. The three mobsters were caught by surprise, and quickly died. They took caps and ammunition, but left the submachine guns, which were simply too bulky to deal with. Walking up the steps to the Vault door, Irene saw the same control panel that had been in Vault 111. Like before, she used the link cable of her Pip-Boy to interface with the panel. The door groaned and shrieked as it opened. Irene could see Preston's wide eyes.  
“Never seen a Vault open before, huh?”  
Preston shook his head slowly as he watched the door rotate out of the way.  
A voice from inside yelled out, “God damn it, why does that thing have to be so loud? What do you fellas need now?” A mobster walked out into the room. Preston shook off his awe, and shot him before he could draw his gun. Another one, this time a ghoul, ran out with a baseball bat. Irene shot him in the head as he ran towards them.  
“And he thought that would end how?” Irene asked Preston sardonically. Irene took the opportunity to grab a few Vault suits as they walked past the old check-in desk. She'd found out that people loved Vault suits for some reason, and would pay good money for ones that were wearable. She also checked a computer terminal, and found that this Vault was also meant for experimentation. Her lip curled in disgust as she read that this one was meant to be an exercise in how the wealthy would behave when they had to go without luxury, and deal with an inept Overseer.  
“Vault-Tec was horrible! They used the Vaults as experiments, with no regard for the people living in them. How could they do that?”

Preston shook his head as he gathered some stimpaks and Rad-Away that he'd found. “I don't have an answer. I can't understand why they'd do it either.”  
Irene sighed, then stepped away from the terminal. She grabbed all the Vault suits she found, as well as some cans of purified water. They headed further into the Vault, heading down stairs. Stopping when they heard voices, they crept down the stairs. Down a hallway, two mobsters were talking about why the Vault was inside a subway station. They were standing next to each other, so she lobbed a Molotov at them. They died in the flames, and Irene found grim satisfaction in it. They quickly searched the lockers for caps and salvage. They ignored the bodies of the gangsters. Through the doorway at the end, there was a system of metal walkways leading downwards. They were brightly lit, and had gangsters patrolling them. Irene and her companions probably wouldn't be able to sneak their way down. A mobster stood with his back to them, and Irene quickly shot him in the head. Another one ran up, but Irene shot him as well. He fell down, dead. As they crossed the walkway, another mobster appeared. This one ran towards them with a bat, while two others covered him with gunfire. They missed, and Preston shot the one with the bat. Irene took out the two in the room. She quickly checked them all for caps and ammunition, finding plenty of each. There was also some useful salvage; vacuum tubes, fuses, lightbulbs, and a couple rolls of duct tape. Behind a support column, there was an open safe, which had several stacks of Pre-War money. While it couldn't be used to buy anything anymore, it did make a nice stuffing for mattresses and pillows.

The only way left to go was down through a hole in the floor. They dropped through it, and waited. Had anyone heard the noise they made? No one came, however, and so they continued on. They walked through hallways, until they reached a large room with multiple levels. A man stood in front of a large window, wearing a full suit and a hat. His back was to them, so he hadn't noticed them.  
“How you doin' there, Valentine? Ready for what the boss will do to ya?”  
“Keep talking, meathead,” a harsh voice replied, “it'll give Skinny Malone more time to think about how he's going to bump you off.”  
The man pounded on the window. “Shut up! Don't give me that crap, Valentine. You know nothin', you ain't got nothin'.”  
“Oh yeah? Well, I saw Skinny Malone write your name down in that little black book he carries with him. “Lousy cheating card shark” were his exact words. Then he crossed it out, three times.”  
“Three strikes?” the gangster sounded worried. “In the black book? But I never… I gotta straighten this out with the boss!” He turned, and saw Irene. She stood up, and emptied the rest of her magazine into him.

Irene ran over to the window.  
“You okay in there?” It was dark inside, so she could only barely make out the silhouette of a man inside. “Are you Nick Valentine?”  
“Yeah, and thanks. The terminal over there should unlock the door. Appreciate it if you do it before they realize that muscles-for-brains ain't coming back.”  
Irene nodded, and checked the terminal. It required a password. She checked the dead man, and he had a sheet of paper on him with a single word written on it. Trying her luck, she put it in to the terminal. The door whooshed open, and Irene and her friends stepped inside.

The man lit a cigarette, allowing her to see his face. He, he wasn't human! His electronic yellow eyes stared back at her, glowing in the dimness. Smoke billowed out of a gaping hole in the sides of his neck and the side of his head, where the skin-like covering had been ripped or torn away. One of his hands was also missing its covering, and his metal skeleton showed itself.  
“Gotta love the irony of the reverse damsel-in-distress scenario,” he chuckled, “but question is, why'd our heroine, along with a dog and a Minuteman, risk life and limb to rescue an old private eye?”  
“I need you to find my baby brother, Shaun. He was kidnapped. I don't know who took him, or where they went.” Irene didn't mean to keep staring at him, but he was like nothing she'd seen before. _Is he a synth?_  
“A missing kid, huh? Well, you came to the right man, if not the right place.” He sighed, then continued. “I've been cooped up in here for weeks. Turns out the runaway daughter I came to find wasn't kidnapped, but Skinny Malone's new flame. And boy, does she have a mean streak. Anyway, you got troubles, and I'm glad to help, but now ain't the time. Let's blow this joint, and then we can talk.” Irene and the others followed Valentine out the door.  
“This gang used to be small time, 'til they found this place. Dunno where the original owners went, but they ain't around to charge rent. An empty Vault, the perfect hideout,” Valentine explained to them. They went down the stairs, to the bottom level of the large room. He crouched down. “Hold up, I hear some of them coming.” He turned to Irene. “How do you want to play this?”

Irene stood up, and fired at the gangsters as they came through the door at the end of the room. She took cover behind an old metal table, her companions doing the same. The gangsters hid behind the doorway, or the support columns. They traded shots for a while, until Dogmeat dragged one out from behind a column. Irene shot the ghoul in the head, and blood poured out onto the ground. One of the others leaned out from behind the doorway, but a bolt from Preston's laser musket finished him off. The last one took shelter behind a table, until Irene shot him in the arm. He ran to a column, but Valentine shot him dead before he could make it.  
“Well, that's one way to get the coolant pumping. I sure feel sorry for whoever mops the floors, though.”  
“If it's a gangster, then I wouldn't be too sorry,” Irene told Valentine. Preston and the detective both looked at her at that, Preston raising an eyebrow. She ignored them. They went through the door the gangsters had come from, and followed the hallway. The door at the end didn't open.  
“Door's on the fritz, huh? Let me see if I can get it open…” Valentine stepped forward, fiddling with the control panel. “Almost got it… there we are! Hell of a lot easier to do, when the lock isn't on the other side.”  
They went up the stairs, until they reached another hallway, with more gangsters. They poured out of the side rooms, but between Irene, Preston, Valentine, and Dogmeat, they were able to kill them all. Irene found an issue of Astoundingly Awesome Tales, and grabbed it. She missed the Pre-War comics and stories. Since they were in the living quarters, she also grabbed every pillow she could see. These were nice, soft ones. The people back in Sanctuary could use them.

They climbed up who knew how many stairs.  
“More stairs? Who built this damn Vault, a fitness instructor?”  
Irene snorted; she liked Valentine's sense of humor.  
“Skinny Malone and the rest of his boys will be waitin' for us, somewhere. The name's, uh, ironic, but don't let that fool ya. He's as dangerous as they come, and that dame of his ain't no slouch either.”  
They climbed more stairs, until they reached a room with another locked door. Valentine took care of it, then paused.  
“Uh oh, I heard big, fat footsteps on the other side of this door. Be ready.”  
Irene and Preston nodded, then they all went through the door.

On the other side was a large, scruffy man dressed in a tuxedo. A tall, dark-haired woman in a sparkly evening dress stood next to him. She held a baseball bat, while he had a submachine gun. Three other gangsters stood behind them. Irene and the others couldn't fight their way out, not without one of them getting hurt.  
“Nicky? What are you doin'? You come into my house, shoot up my guys? You have any idea how much this is gonna set me back?”  
“I wouldn't be here if it weren't for your two-timin' dame, Skinny. You should tell her to write home more often.”  
“Awww, poor widdle Valentine. Ashamed you got beat by a girl? I'll just run back home to daddy, shall I?” The woman had a nasally, annoying voice, with an affected baby-talk tone. It set Irene's teeth on edge. Didn't she know how lucky she was, to have a dad still alive?  
Skinny Malone sighed. “Shoulda left it alone, Nicky. In the old neighborhood, I may have been small time. But this ain't the old neighborhood. Here? In this Vault, I'm king of the castle! I ain't lettin' some private dick shut me down, just when I finally got a good thing goin'.”  
“I told you we shoulda killed him,” the woman screeched, “but you had to get sentimental about “old times”. All stupid crap!”  
“Darla, I'm handlin' this! Skinny Malone's always got things under control!”  
“Oh yeah? Then what's this kid and the guy doin' here? I bet Valentine brought 'em to rub us out!”  
Irene could tell things were getting more volatile by the minute. If she could get the woman to leave, then maybe Valentine could talk to Malone. Much as she wished she could kill him and the rest of his gang, she didn't want any of her companions getting hurt because of her. “Darla, listen to me. You have a home, a life to go back to. A father who cares about you enough to send a detective to look for you. A father who's alive. I saw my dad die in front of me. I'd give just about anything to spend more time with him. Yours is still alive, and misses you. Go back to him. I wish I could go back to my own dad.”

Darla looked at Irene. Irene stared back, hoping the woman could see the sincerity in her eyes. Darla looked away, a stricken look on her face. “I… I… You're right. What have I gotten myself mixed up with?” She dropped the baby-talk from her voice; it became much lower, and less annoying.  
“Darla! Where, where ya goin'?”  
“Home, Skinny, where I should have been all this time. I see that now. This is goodbye, for us.” Darla walked away, and Malone turned back to Valentine.  
“Aw, come on, Nicky! First you cost me my men, now your kid sidekick costs me my girl?”  
“My “kid sidekick” here just did you a favor. You always did have bad taste in women, Skinny. Now, maybe without her to rile you up, you'll see sense? You still owe me for two weeks in that hole.”  
“You smug, overconfident ass…! Alright, you get to the count of ten. If we still see you by that time, you're dead!” He started counting up, and they ran for the exit. There was a door, just after the construction equipment, that led to a ladder upwards.  
“This is the exit, folks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading the latest chapter!
> 
> I know Darla looks older in the game, but I head canon her as late teens to early twenties (18-23), wealthy in Commonwealth terms, with a slightly over-protective father who know how dangerous the Commonwealth can be. So she's in her rebellious phase, ran off to Goodneighbor, hooked up with Skinny Malone, and that leads us to now.
> 
> And more teasing with Irene's mom! Sad to say, you're not going to find out what happened until Irene becomes better pals with Nick. I will try not to tease any more.
> 
> Also, for those who don't know, private dick was a synonym for private detective. I think it was mostly used in the 30s-60s.
> 
> Comments, questions, suggestions, and kudos are always appreciated!


	16. Back to Diamond City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having rescued Nick Valentine, the detective who can find Shaun, Irene, Preston, and Dogmeat follow him back to Diamond City. Settling themselves in Valentine's office, Irene tells him all about what happened when her brother was taken. Irene is ready to restart the search, but the exhaustion of the day catches up to her.

They stepped out into an alleyway, piled with rubble and garbage. The night surrounded them; Irene's Pip-Boy said it was midnight.  
“Look at that Commonwealth sky; didn't think something so ominous would be so inviting.” Valentine gazed upwards, looking at the stars, then looked back at Irene. “Thanks for getting me out. Not many people would have the guts to do what you did. Come to think of it, not many people knew where I went. How'd you know where to find me?”  
“When we got to your office, a woman was there. She told us.”  
“Ah, good old Ellie. Best secretary I could ask for. I should give her a raise for this. Now, back to your brother. I want you to come to my office in Diamond City. You've earned a chance to sit down and clear your head. You can give me all the details there. Follow me, I know the safest routes.”

They made their way back to Diamond City with no problems. Valentine told them the route he'd taken them was usually the safest, so Irene made note of it. The metal door to Diamond City was closed, but Valentine used the intercom to let the guards know they weren't raiders. They opened the gate, and their little group was able to walk in. The market was quiet, but still well-lit.  
“Discourages any thieves,” Valentine told them. He led the way back to his office. As soon as he stepped inside, he called out, “Ellie? Are you here?”  
Ellie came rushing up from the back room, launching herself at Valentine with a hug that almost knocked him over. “Nick! Oh god, it's really you!”  
“Well, it's hard to mistake this mug for anyone else,” the detective chuckled.  
Ellie laughed weakly, wiping tears from her eyes as she disentangled herself from the hug. “You keep laughing at death, and some day, death's gonna laugh right back.”  
“Not as long as I got a few friends to back me up.” He pointed to Irene and her companions, and Ellie smiled at them. She mouthed 'thank you' at them, as Valentine took a seat at his desk and gestured for them to sit.  
“All right, let's get down to business. When you're trying to find someone who's gone missing, the devil is in the details. I know it might be painful, but I need you to tell me everything you can remember.”  
Irene took a breath to calm herself. She knew this had to be done, had be psyching herself up for it, but it was still difficult. “We were in a Vault when it happened, Vault 111. We were frozen in pods.”  
“Hmm, you were on ice, huh? More importantly, you were underground. Vaults are tricky things to sneak into, they're sealed up. A lot of trouble just to take one person.”  
“My dad was… was shot. Shaun was in the same pod, and they tried to take him. Dad wouldn't let… let them, and they… they…” Irene took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. The memories flashed through her mind. She felt the cold ice, saw Nate's head fall back after the shot, saw the man leer up at her. Then she felt a warm, wet tongue on her face, and soft fur. Dogmeat put his front paws on her knees, and was licking her face. She hugged him. “You're a good boy, such a good boy,” she murmured. Preston laid a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. Between her two friends, she slowly came back to the present.  
“It's okay, you don't need to say anything more.” Ellie soothed Irene, her voice low and gentle.  
Valentine looked thoughtful. “So, we're talking about a group of cold-hearted killers, but they waited until something was wrong to resort to violence. Anything else you can tell me?”  
Irene nodded. “Shaun is less than a year old, with dark brown, almost black hair, and only a little lighter than my skin. Why take him?”  
“Good question. Why your family, and why a baby? They need a lot of care, a lot of it. This wasn't some random kidnapping; someone had an agenda when they took him. Lot of groups that do that. Super mutants, raiders, the Gunners, and the Institute, of course.”  
“It wasn't super mutants. I've seen them, the people who took him were human. I don't think it was raiders, either. I've seen enough of them now, and the people who took Shaun were too clean and intelligent.”  
“Gunners and the Institute then. Gunners are high-end mercenaries, no job too brutal, but they wouldn't be the ones pulling the strings.”

“The Institute then?” Irene remembered what the kid from the newspaper had said, that no one was ever heard from if the Institute grabbed them. She pushed the thought away. No matter who took Shaun, I will find him!  
“Well, they're the boogeyman of the Commonwealth. Something goes wrong, everyone blames them. Easy to see why; early model synths of theirs strip whole towns for parts, killing anyone in their way. Then you got newer models, look just like humans. Those infiltrate cities, pulling strings from the shadows. Worst of all, no one knows why they do it.”  
“Are you a synth?” Irene asked before she could stop herself. She blushed. “I'm sorry if that was rude, I've just never seen one before.”  
Valentine smiled at her. “Yeah, I'm a synth. Never seen another one like me, though. I'm somewhere between the older ones, which are dumb as rocks, and the newer ones, that are almost human.”  
“Cool. You're able to find Shaun; that's all I care about.”  
“Which brings me to my final question. Can you describe the kidnappers?”  
“There was a woman, dressed in a hazard suit, or something like it. The man with her wasn't. He was wearing a leather jacket, like a motorcycle jacket, and had a metal brace of some kind on his arm.”  
“Hmm, hazard suits are tough to find, and expensive. These people have caps. The brace could be some sort of armor; lot of mercs improvise to look tough.”  
“The man, he's the one who killed my dad. He had a gun. I think it was a large caliber, because the sound was almost deafening. It wasn't a 10mm pistol, or a pipe gun, or a rifle.”  
“A large-caliber gun, but not a rifle. Probably a revolver. I'm starting to get a clearer picture of the perp. Anything else?”  
“His voice was low and rough, like sandpaper. He sounded cold, as well, unfeeling.”  
“Not as much to go on, but a voice like that can get someone pretty far in the business of violence… What'd he look like?”  
“He was bald, with black stubble for a beard. He had a long scar over his left eye.”  
Valentine perked up at her description. “Wait, it couldn't be… You didn't hear the name Kellogg at all, did you?”  
Irene shook her head. “No, I didn't. Why? Do you think he's the one who took Shaun?”  
Valentine leaned back in his chair. “Hmm, just way too much of a coincidence… Ellie, what notes do we have about the Kellogg case?”  
Ellie walked over to a file cabinet and dug through it. She pulled out a file, and opened it up. “What we have matches. Bald, scar over one eye, reputation for dangerous mercenary work, but no one knows who his employer is. He bought a house here in town, only left a couple days ago. Also had a ten-year-old kid with him.”  
“Any baby? Did he have Shaun? Or was the kid another victim?” Irene asked frantically.  
“Either that, or he's got a son of his own. Not a comforting thought in any case,” Valentine mused.

 _If he was in Diamond City, then I can't wait!_ “Let's go see Kellogg's house, then!” Irene stood up quickly, but immediately sat back down, hard. For a moment, the room had spun, and her head hurt.  
“You're in no shape to continue, kid. Even I can tell you're beat. How long you been up?” Valentine looked at Preston when she didn't answer.  
“We got up at four, we had a long way to travel to get here, but we were in four fights before we rescued you. Is there a place we can stay?”  
“Sure, the Dugout Inn. Run by the Bobrov brothers; you'll want Yefim, the quiet brother, not Vadim, the loud one. Vadim usually tends the bar.”  
Preston nodded. “We'll head there, then.” He looked at Irene. “You okay to walk, or should I carry you?”  
Irene shook her head. “I'm fine now. I don't need to rest, really.” As soon as she spoke, her body betrayed her and she yawned, long and wide. She looked at the others, sheepishly. “Okay, maybe I do need a rest.”  
Valentine looked at her with his piercing yellow eyes. “I know this must be difficult for you, kid, but you need to take care. You can't go rushin' around until you drop. If somethin' happens to you, who's going to look for your brother?”  
Irene nodded. Just a few words from Valentine, and she felt like a scolded child again. She stood up, slowly, but the room stayed in place. Now that she accepted that she was tired, her muscles ached. Before she exited the office, Ellie stopped her, a small bag in her hand.  
“You saved Nick, the agency, and my job. I know an amount wasn't on the table when you set out, but you deserve a reward. Thank you.” She handed Irene a bag full of caps. “Y'know, if you're looking for work, and don't mind putting on the detective hat, Nick could use a new partner.”  
“Ellie, let 'em get some rest. She's our client right now. You can recruit her another time.” Nick quirked his lips up in a grin. “Not that I wouldn't mind workin' with you again.”  
Irene smiled. “Thanks, detective. I may take you up on that offer, after we find Shaun.” She waved goodbye, then headed out the door.

The Dugout Inn was near the entrance to the city, so it wasn't hard to find. Like the name suggested, it was located in the old dugouts. As soon as they walked in, a man at the bar shouted at them.  
“Hello there! Welcome to the Dugout Inn!” He had a Russian accent, and was very jovial. “What can I get you for drink?”  
“We just want a couple rooms, thanks.” Preston answered for them. Irene was almost asleep where she stood.  
A man in a light colored suit stepped forward. “I'm Yefim, I handle the rooms. How many?”  
“Two, if you've got them. Just tonight.”  
“We do. That will be twenty caps.” Unlike the one at the bar – Irene recalled Valentine said that one was Vadim – this man was quieter. “You have rooms one and two. The numbers are painted on the door.”  
Preston thanked Yefim, and helped Irene into her room. He helped her to remove her armor and Pip-Boy, and to untie her boots. “Stay with her, Dogmeat.” Dogmeat plunked himself next to the bed, and Preston left for his own room. Irene stared up at the ceiling, listening to the sounds of the customers at the inn, until she finally fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thanks for reading this chapter. This is such a dialogue heavy chapter. I hope I did okay; dialogue isn't one of my strong points (in my opinion).
> 
> The gate to Diamond City was closed because it was night time. Doesn't happen in-game, but it makes sense they would do so, as an extra precaution.
> 
> Any mistakes are my own, since I have no beta. If anyone would like to be my beta, comment or send me a message on my tumblr (grittyknittygrrrl). And if you spot any mistakes, please let me know. Comments and kudos are always welcome and appreciated!


	17. The Hunt for Conrad Kellogg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irene wakes up in Diamond City. She and Nick Valentine start looking for Kellogg, the monster who murdered her dad and kidnapped her baby brother. Preston heads back to Sanctuary as Irene and Nick leaved the city, with Dogmeat tracking Kellogg's scent. They follow his trail of carnage, and eventually find him. Now, to face him.

Irene woke up in an unfamiliar room. _Where am I?_ As she became more awake, she remembered Preston getting them rooms at the Dugout Inn in Diamond City. She checked her Pip-Boy; it was seven in the morning. She'd gotten about five or six hours of sleep, but she felt okay. She put on her armor, her boots, and her Pip-Boy. Dogmeat woke up from his spot on the floor.  
“Come on, Dogmeat. I'm sorry you didn't get to sleep in your bed.” They walked out of her room. The quiet brother, Yefim, nodded at her.  
“Do you know if Preston, the man I came here with, is up yet?”  
Yefim shook his head. “He's still sleeping. You two came in late. Rooms are good for twenty-four hours, if you want to sleep some more.”  
“Thanks, but I'm too hungry to sleep. Is the noodle stand out there any good?”  
“Power Noodles? Is not bad, especially for a robot cook. Honestly, better than the breakfast Vadim cooks.”

Irene thanked Yefim, and headed out of the in. She sat down at the noodle stand. A Protectron in a chef's hat stood behind it.  
“Nan-ni-shimasko-ka?” it asked her.  
A resident a couple seats down from her said, “Just say yes. It's all he understands.”  
“Yes.” Irene dug some caps from out of her pocket, and put them on the counter. The robot swept them into a box, then poured her a bowl of noodles. Irene took a tentative taste. _These are delicious!_ They were a little salty, but were hearty. It reminded her of the udon her family used to eat at a Japanese restaurant in Boston. She ate slowly, wanting to relish both the noodles, and the fact that the memory wasn't as painful as other memories had been.

Valentine walked up to her as she ate her breakfast of noodles. “I thought you might be up earlier than needed. Did you sleep at all?”  
Irene nodded, her mouth too full to speak. She chewed and swallowed quickly. “I slept better than I thought I would. I must've been really exhausted. Preston was still asleep when I got up, so I didn't wake up. He's done a lot for me, a lot that he didn't have to do.”  
“He's one of the Minutemen, ain't he? He looks like he takes the responsibilities seriously. Good company to keep.” Valentine sighed as he sat down next to her. “There's something I didn't want Ellie to overhear last night, and didn't want to tell you while you were dead on your feet. You should know it, though. Everything I've dug up about Kellogg is bad news. He's more than just a mercenary, he's a professional; quick, clean, and most of all, thorough. He's got no enemies, because they're all dead. All except for you.”  
“He made a mistake then, and we'll be able to catch it when he makes more.”  
Valentine nodded as he gave Dogmeat some head scratches. “Nine-to-one odds say he's our man. It's more than just identifying his distinguishing features, it's him MO as well. Leading a small team to kidnap a baby, out of an underground Vault, and leave one of the family alive? Not many mercs can pull that off.”

Irene finished her noodle bowl, and got up. “Let's go check out his house, then.”  
Valentine stood up as well, and lead the way. They walked through the city until they reached an elevated house in the West Stands.  
“Here we are.” Valentine tried the handle. “Locked. Keep an eye out for me, will ya? I'll see if I can get this open.” Valentine kneeled before the door, but stopped just before he put a lock pick in. “This ain't good. He's boobytrapped the door. Can't open it without a key.”  
“Where would we find one?”  
Valentine walked over to the railing. He pointed, saying, “You see that platform near the city entrance? That's the elevator to the mayor's office. You should go ask around there. I'll stay here, see if I can figure out a way to disarm the thing.”  
Irene nodded, and made Dogmeat stay with Valentine. She strolled over to the elevator. Arturo waved at her in greeting as she passed, and she waved back. The elevator was an open-air contraption, from the Pre-War. Hopefully, it worked properly. She pushed the button, and it slowly creaked upwards.

When it reached the mayor's office, she saw Piper inside talking to a secretary.  
“Why isn't the mayor coming out of his office? Afraid to run into the press? I bet if I said I was the Institute, he'd come running.”  
The secretary, a willowy woman with blonde hair and an Pre-War outfit, sat at a desk. “Have you ever thought you could get a man's attention if you use softer words? Maybe a little less shouting?”  
“Ah, that reminds me of an article I'm writing of the mayor's affair with an air-headed blonde… I should get back to it.” Piper turned, and saw Irene. She smiled. “Look who it is! What brings you to the mayor's office, huh?”  
“Just here to get some information to help find my brother.”  
“If you're done crowding the reception area, Miss Piper, the Mayor needs to make time for respectable citizens.” The imperious secretary butted in before Piper could reply.  
“Hmph, I was just leaving anyway.” Piper turned and walked away, but paused and turned back to Irene. “We still on for that interview?”  
“Sure thing. I'll do it before I leave Diamond City. I wouldn't miss it for the world, Piper.”  
Piper grinned, then left in the indoor elevator.

Irene walked forward to the secretary.  
“The Mayor's receiving visitors, as long as they aren't members of the press. Did you need something, young lady?”  
“Yes, there is. I need to talk to someone about Kellogg's old house, the one in the West Stands. I was wondering if you had a spare key to get in; his door is rigged to explode.”  
“We do have a spare key to all residences here in Diamond City, but I can't allow you to invade his privacy. If there's something that belongs to him that you have a claim on, you can always ask the mayor to hear you out.”  
“Can't you help me?”  
The secretary shook her head. “I'm not able to. And even if I was, why should I?”  
Irene put on her most pitiful, innocent, heartbroken expression. “Please, all I want is to find my baby brother. That man kidnapped him. Shaun's less than a year old. His house is my only lead,” she sniffled, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.  
The woman's face softened. “You do seem like a sweetheart, and something always seemed off about him… Very well. I'm going to _forget_ I left this key on my desk. You're brother's very lucky to have a sister like you. I hope you find him.” She put the key on her desk, and turned away. Irene took it.  
“Thank you,” she said softly. She saw the woman's little smile.

She headed back to Kellogg's house, where Valentine and Dogmeat were still waiting. Valentine had lit a cigarette.  
“Got the key?” he asked, stubbing his cigarette out on the side of the building. Irene nodded, and he gestured to the door. “Let's head inside then. You do the honors.”  
Irene stuck the key in the lock, and turned it. She heard a click, but nothing bad happened. She grabbed a stick that was stuck in a bush, and used it to push the door open from a distance. No explosions, no arcs of electricity, no waves of radiation, nothing. They went inside. Kellogg's house was a metal shack with plain walls. There was a couch, TV, desk, a couple of chairs, a coatrack, and lights. There were stairs leading to the second floor.  
“Let's take a look around, see if he left behind anything useful.” Valentine started searching the chairs and couch. Irene went upstairs, where there was a bed, a sleeping bag, a table, and an ornate dresser, one that would have been considered an antique even before the War. The dresser and sleeping bag were empty. There was nothing hidden under the mattress, no lumps in it, nothing under the bed. She even checked the underside of the table, but there was nothing.  
“Nothing up here, Valentine.” She went downstairs, but stopped when she saw something round and red underneath the desk. She bent down, and saw that it was a button. “Hey, there's a switch under the desk. Should I press it?”  
“Go ahead. There's something off about this place, too small for someone like Kellogg.”  
She pressed the button. A panel on the wall swung up, revealing a hidden room.  
“Well, there we go.”

The room was the perfect mercenary den. It had an overstuffed chair, cigars, beer, chems, food, guns, and ammunition.  
“Gwinnett Stout, .44 caliber bullets, and cigars,” Irene picked up a cigar, and looked at the label, “San Francisco Sunlights.”  
“Interesting brand. Unfortunately, they won't lead us anywhere on their own.”  
Irene was dejected. She'd hoped so much that they'd find Shaun here, or something that would lead them to him. Dogmeat walked over to the table, and sniffed the cigars, then sniffed the one in her hand.  
“Dogmeat!” He'd be perfect! “Dogmeat can track Kellogg's scent! Isn't that right, boy?” Dogmeat wagged his tail and barked. Valentine looked thoughtful.  
“That's not a bad idea. Some dogs out in the Commonwealth can track a person for miles. Dogmeat seems eager for the job. Why don't you let him have a whiff? See if he picks up on the trail.”  
Irene knelt, and let Dogmeat sniff the cigar. He inhaled the scent, and ran to the front door, his tail wagging. Before Irene could follow, Valentine stopped her.  
“Before you head out… I know this is personal business, if you have to face Kellogg alone just say so, but I'd like to go with you.”  
Irene thought for a moment. She enjoyed traveling with Preston, but he had the Minutemen to build back up, and he'd already taken a lot of time for her. Valentine didn't have those concerns; he'd mentioned that he was without any cases, aside from hers. As a synth, he wouldn't have to sleep, or rest, so she'd be able to get a full nights sleep if they had to sleep out in the Commonwealth. His skills as a detective would also be useful. She also had a warm regard for him, even though they'd only met yesterday; he reminded her of the police detectives after her mom's death, and his Pre-War mannerisms made her feel more relaxed than she'd been since she thawed out.  
“I'd be honored if you came with me, detective.”  
“All right, let's get this bastard. This is your show from here on out, okay? You say jump, I say how high. Although, if we're going to be traveling partners, I insist you call me Nick.”  
Irene smiled. “All right, Nick. I need to stop by the Dugout Inn, to let Preston know. He's got so much to do, and he's already taken a lot of time to help me, when he didn't have to.”

Before they left the room, Irene took what was in there. The food and ammunition would be useful for on the road, and there were seven cans of purified water.  
“I have some salvage for Sanctuary, the settlement where Preston and I live. Can I stash it at your office? Oh, and I promised to give Piper a quick interview before I left.”  
Nick nodded. “Sure, no problem. When we head back to the office, I'll let Ellie know what's going on.”  
They exited Kellogg's shack, and walked to Nick's office. Ellie was inside, and Nick told her what was happening as Irene stashed the salvage for Sanctuary.  
“You two be careful, and look out for each other, okay?” Ellie looked worried, but Irene and Nick both assured her that they'd be fine. They left the office, and headed to the Dugout Inn. Preston was just exiting his room.  
“How long have you been awake, Irene?”  
“A little over an hour. We went to Kellogg's house, but he wasn't there. Dogmeat's able to track his scent though, so that's what we're going to do. Nick's coming with me. I figured you'd want to get back to Sanctuary, build up the Minutemen again?”  
“If that's what you want. I can still come with you, if you want me to. I want you to be safe. Not that I'm doubting your ability to look after her, Valentine. It's just that she can be stupid sometimes, like running into a live turret for a comic book,” Preston teased her.  
“Hey! That was one time! One time!” Irene was a bit miffed that he told Nick about her Corvega misadventure.  
“Don't worry, I'll keep her outta trouble and away from turrets.” Nick grinned at Irene and Preston.  
“Stay safe, okay?” Preston said as he hugged Irene. She hugged him back, touched by his concern.  
“I will. I'll come back to Sanctuary when we're done, and you can meet Shaun.”

They exited the Dugout Inn, and waved goodbye to Preston as he left the city. Irene and Nick entered Publick Occurrences, where they saw Piper working on the printer. She stood up when they entered.  
“Nicky Valentine, you're back! Good to see you're still in one piece. Diamond City would be a poorer place without you.”  
“It's good to be back, Piper. You can thank my new friend here. She wants to give you that interview.”  
Piper grabbed a pencil and pad of paper, and sat down on the couch. She patted the seat next to her, motioning Irene to sit down.  
“Glad you dropped by. You holdin' up, Blue?”  
“Blue?” Irene was bemused by the nickname. What did Piper mean by that?  
“Yeah, your blue jumpsuit. You're a Vault dweller.”  
“Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm holding up okay.”  
“That's good. So here's the deal,” Piper said in a business-like tone, “I want the interview, your life story in print. The outsider's perspective of Diamond City and the Commonwealth. You do that, and I'll come with you anytime, watch your back while you get used to the world above ground. Although I think Nicky here will probably do a fair job at it, he's no me.” She winked at Irene and Nick. Nick just laughed at her, grinning.  
“Okay, I can do that. What do you want to know?”

Piper interviewed Irene for about twenty or twenty-five minutes. Irene gave her only the truth, about the Vault, looking for Shaun, how everything compared to her old life, and what she thought of the people trying to rebuild the Commonwealth. Piper loved her interview, saying that it was a strong, positive one that would hopefully help others. When the reporter put it all together in a story, she said Irene would get a free copy. After they left Piper, Nick told her that, despite the reporter's nosiness, she was a good person. He also said that he thought it was a good thing she'd done the interview; it would sell quickly, which was good for Piper. They followed Dogmeat out of Diamond City. He led them south, out of the Boston Ruins. Irene was agitated, her muscles taut and tense. She felt like she was the scent hound, searching for her quarry. Finally, she was going to find Shaun!

Just outside the ruins, Dogmeat stopped at a small pond. There was a wooden deck, with chairs. On top of one chair lay an ashtray, and a San Francisco Sunlight cigar.  
“Kellogg's brand,” Nick stated as Irene picked it up, “means he was here recently. A scavver or animal would have made off with it if it was here for too long.”  
“Also means that we should have a strong trail to follow,” Irene replied, kneeling to let Dogmeat have a whiff of the cigar. He scented about in the air, then his nose led in on direction. They went west, along the railroad tracks. They still had the trail. Irene was terrified that they would lose it before they found Kellogg. _What would happen, if we did? What would we do? How would we find Shaun?_ Nick touched her elbow.  
“You okay, kid? Ya looked a little distant there,” he said, concern on his face and in his tone. Irene swallowed, and nodded. “Don't worry, Dogmeat's a smart boy. He'll find Kellogg for us,” Nick reassured her. She smiled. Even though they'd only met yesterday, he was concerned for her well-being. She liked Nick; he seemed like a kind, caring soul. Well, maybe not a soul, since he was a synth. Although, he was as human as anyone else she'd met, except for the metal parts, so maybe being a synth didn't matter. Codsworth was programmed to be helpful and useful, but he'd missed her during the two hundred years she'd been frozen. He offered to go with her in the Commonwealth, to protect her during her search for Shaun, even though he wasn't programmed for combat at all. Wouldn't that mean that they were more than just their circuits, gears, and programming? That they were capable of learning, and changing, both qualities of humans? Irene could understand a bit more why people hoped the Railroad existed.  
“Say, Nick,” she asked as they walked along the tracks, “do you know if the Railroad exists?”  
“A lot of people think I should know, bein' a synth. I don't know if they exist or not. I don't think they rescued me from the Institute, and I've never run into them. They leave behind holotapes sometimes, to recruit, but who knows if those are real. Why, you thinkin' of joining them?”  
Irene nodded. “I was thinking of it, after I find my brother. They seem to be doing a good thing.”  
“Just be careful. Tangling with the Institute can lead to trouble.”

They continued along the tracks, walking in companionable silence. There was a slight breeze, and it rustled through the plants and grasses. They discovered a Brahmin skeleton, and then there was a rumbling in the ground. Irene readied her automatic pipe pistol, knowing what came next. Mole rats sprung from their holes in the ground, all biting teeth, clawing paws, and rabid disposition. There were only four of them, so Irene and her friends were able to dispatch them quickly. Irene was apprehensive about leaving so much meat behind; living in the Commonwealth had taught her not to be wasteful. She hadn't learned about skinning and butchering animals, but there was no time like the present. She swallowed, hoping her noodles would stay in her stomach where they belonged.  
“Nick, would you help me with these?”  
He nodded, and she dug out two knives from her bag. Preston had insisted she carry some, and she was glad for that now. Between her and Nick, it only took them a few minutes to skin all the mole rats. Irene was proud that she didn't throw up once, though she gagged plenty of times. She let Dogmeat have a few chunks of meat. She stuffed the rest into a rubber bag she'd grabbed in the market, before she left Diamond City. She'd grabbed it for Shaun's dirty diapers, but she'd figure something else out. Food was more important.

Dogmeat led them further westward. There were plenty of abandoned train cars. Irene could see regular cars and trucks on the nearby roads, rusted out frames with the remains of the drivers still nearby. They went down some stairs, to a roadside underpass. They found two dead raiders, an exploded turret, and lots of blood. Dogmeat stopped.  
“Looks like another one of Kellogg's pit-stops. Must've been here a while, to let the scent pool.” Nick started looking around. “See if there's anything for Dogmeat to smell.”  
Irene nodded, and looked around. She quickly took what parts she could from the turret, in case Sanctuary needed parts when they got back. She also took the ammunition and caps from the dead raiders. On the wall, hanging off of a pipe, bright red blood caught her eye. She'd thought it was more blood smears, but these were bandages.  
“Dead people don't use bandages. Living ones do,” she mused aloud. She held them out for Dogmeat to sniff. “Is this Kellogg, boy?” Dogmeat sniffed and snuffled, then barked. He led them through the doorway where one of the raiders lay dead, and up the stairs. They went north-west this time, but ran into a small pack of wild dogs. Instead of running off, they attacked Irene and the others; unfortunately for the dogs, they were easy to kill. Dogmeat ended up with a bad bite from one of them, but Irene took care of it with a little water wash and a stimpak. A few minutes later, they encountered a Yao Guai. It turned out that Yao Guai were irradiated bears. It stared at them, and then rand forward. Irene panicked; it was so big, and the claws were so long and sharp!  
“Nothing for it now, kid, just kill it!” Nick yelled as he fired round after round into the creature. Dogmeat ran around it, biting quickly and then dancing away before it could swipe him. Irene looked around, trying to find anything that would even the odds. Her eyes fell on a rocky outcropping, too tall for the Yao Guai to climb, but short enough it would try to reach anyway. It seemed a lot like the Deathclaw in Concord, too angry or blood-thirsty for its own good. She climbed up onto the rocks, switched to her automatic pipe pistol, and called out to it.  
“Hey! You big, ugly thing! Over here!” She fired at it, bullets tearing into its flesh. It roared, and turned to look for the source of its pain. It saw Irene, and ran to her. Like she thought, it tried to reach her, despite the bullets she poured into it. Finally, it slumped down, giving a weak growl as the life faded from its eyes. Irene put a few more bullets in its head, just to make sure it was dead, then got down from the rock. She was shaky, shakier than when she'd faced the Deathclaw. Then she'd had power armor and a minigun; now, she just had a Vault suit, leather armor, and a pipe pistol. She sat down, trying to steady her breathing.

Nick walked over to her. “That was smart thinking, kid. Yao Guai are tough, but too intent on killing to realize when they should run. You okay?”  
Irene nodded, exhaling shakily. “Yeah, I think so. I'm not hurt, or anything. Just really spooked.”  
Nick rifled in his pack, then brought out a Nuka-Cola. “Here, drink this. Should help calm you down.” Irene took the soda, and drank it all. Nick was right, it did help. She gave him back the bottle and the cap, then stood up.  
“Lead on, Dogmeat.”

Dogmeat led them along the tracks, to an old train shed. He ran down the steps to a small campsite. He stood there, and barked.  
“He's found somethin'; you know the drill.”  
Irene nodded at Nick, then looked about. Someone had used a mannequin to try and trick someone into thinking they were in the sleeping bag. There wasn't any trap though, which puzzled Irene. Kellogg was a killer; why not leave some bomb, or mine, or something? She went outside to the underpass. At the mouth, she saw a metal chair, like an old lawn chair. She walked up to it; Gwinnett Stout and San Francisco Sunlights. Dogmeat snuffled at both, then bolted for the road. He ran along to a bridge, where he snuffled the ground. Then he ran forward again, leading them in a south-westerly direction. The bridge was covered with abandoned vehicles, and there was a pack of feral ghouls at the end. They were slow, and easy to take care of.  
“Didn't break a sweat, not that it's an option,” Nick joked. Irene snickered; she really like Nick's sense of humor. They walked along through an old town, and turned west to follow the road. Just outside of the town, they saw the sight of a massacre.  
“Damn. Hell of a party happened here,” Nick murmured. Irene agreed with him. A trader had been shot, a gaping hole in his head just like her dad. His three robot guards, two protectrons and an assaultron, had been decimated. The assaultron still whirred with life, though the upper half of its body was completely separated from its legs.  
“Warning… lower your weapons immediately… known mercenary… exercise... extreme caution…” the assaultron's voice flickered in and out.  
“What happened here? Who did this to you?”  
“Error. System corrupt. I can't feel my legs,” it said. It sounded scared. Irene turned to Nick.  
“Is there any way we can fix her, or let her go peacefully?”  
“No way to fix it, but a bullet to the eye, that's the red lens there, will put it out of its misery,” Nick told her. Irene nodded, and shot the assaultron. It died instantly, the lights going out, the electricity no longer sparking from the ends of the wires. Nick looked at her curiously. “Not many people would have been concerned about that.”  
“She was scared, you heard her when she said she couldn't feel her legs. With the battery power, she would have stayed like that for days, or weeks, or whenever someone came along to take her parts. I couldn't leave her suffering like that.”  
“You're a good kid, Irene. Don't let the Commonwealth take that compassion from you. It can make hard people.” Irene smiled, and blushed. To know Nick thought well of her made her feel happy.

There was a cigar next to the assaultron, burned down. Irene was incensed. _How could he do that? How could he just smoke a cigar, next to her, listening as she talked about her legs? How can people be that cruel?_ She knew how people could be like that, but she didn't really understand it. Being mean or cruel, just to be mean or cruel, was never something she'd understood. She knelt as she let Dogmeat sniff the cigar. He ran off, having caught the scent. They continued to follow Dogmeat, who followed the road. The sun was high above their heads; Irene's Pip-Boy said it was one in the afternoon. After a while, they turned north on an intersecting road. Dogmeat soon took them off the road, into the brush and hilly terrain. He led them westward, his tail wagging. They found a fence, with more bloody bandages left hanging on a broken piece.  
“What do you think, Dogmeat? This our man?” Irene let him sniff them. He woofed, and ran through the fence and up the hill. As they reached the top, Irene gasped. They were near the Fort Hagen base! Her dad had had to go see the doctors there after his honorable discharge. He hadn't said what for, other than they were making sure he was okay. She'd had to go with him a couple of times, when school had gotten out early. Dogmeat led them through the base, eventually stopping at Fort Hagen itself. The main door was blocked, barricaded with wooden boards, cement cinder blocks, and huge bags of sand, all welded over with iron bars. There was no way they would get through it. Dogmeat barked, and plopped himself down in front of the barricade.  
“Is this where Kellogg is, boy?” Dogmeat barked again at Irene, his tail wagging.  
“I knew he'd sniff out our man. Let's you and I continue on from here, give our four-legged friend a break.”  
“Absolutely. You've earned a rest for being such a good, good boy.” Irene dug some mole rate meat out of her bag, and laid it on the ground. She also got a bowl from her bag; it had been meant for Sanctuary, but she poured a couple cans of purified water in it for her dog. “You stay here. We'll come get you when we've found Shaun.” Dogmeat licked her hand, and she hugged him.

Irene and Nick took out the turrets that were stationed along the roof of Fort Hagen. They searched around the building, making sure there were no traps or unpleasant surprises waiting for them, In the underground parking garage, there was a room sectioned off with wooden boards. A woman lay inside, dead. Irene looked her over, but there were no bullets or other wounds.  
“Probably an overdose of chems,” Nick said, pointing to a chemistry table, “which can happen a lot, especially if the maker is inexperienced. Seems she was trying to make them, and used herself as a test subject. One wrong batch is all it takes.” Irene looked over the room, to see if there was anything useful. The only things she found were a stash of twenty caps, a can of purified water, and lots of chems. She put all the chems on the ground, and stomped on them. They smashed, spilling their contents.  
“No way I'm taking chances of those being her bad batch, and someone else dying of them,” she explained to Nick. He nodded in approval.

They went up to the roof, to see if there was an entrance to the fort there. Irene was able to get some good parts from the remains of the turrets. She smiled; Sanctuary would be a safer place with these. Suddenly, the light became a sickly green. A miasma of particles settled around them, blown in on the winds.  
“We need to hurry up and find an entrance, quickly. I'll be find in this rad storm, but you won't be.”  
“Rad storm? What's a rad storm?” Irene was puzzled.  
“A dust storm or rain storm, but brings radiation with it. They come up from the Glowing Sea down south; that place has too much radiation for most people to withstand. Probably close to where a bomb fell. It's dangerous, so don't try going there. Anyway, point is, rad storms can be deadly if you're caught outside.”  
They hurried in their search. The air pulsed, and Irene could hear the ticking of the Geiger counter in her Pip-Boy. She felt herself getting sicker with every passing moment. Finally, Nick found a set of doors in the roof that led into Fort Hagen. They slowly opened it; it wouldn't do them any good if there was a long drop that would hurt them. Luckily, there was indeed a ladder for them to use.  
“What if there's a trap down there?” Irene didn't want to get injured, or die, this close to finding Shaun. The air became even greener, and the radiation increased. The wind howled around them.  
“It can't be any worse than up here, kid! Down the ladder!” Nick yelled to make himself heard over the wind. Her Geiger counter ticked almost constantly. Taking a chance, she climbed down the ladder. Nick followed her, and the doors above them slammed shut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! Sorry for the lateness of this chapter. I had actually written it over a month ago, but forgot to post it until now. Sorry about that.
> 
> So I couldn't really find out what rad storms are exactly. I've had rad storms in my game when it's rainy, and I've had them when there's no rain. So I figure it's just a bunch of wind and heavy radiation that can happen in conjunction with other weather occurrences, like rain.
> 
> Also, am I the only one who wished they could kill the injured Assaultron you find tracking Kellogg? I just felt so bad leaving them there.
> 
> I'm working on the next chapter, but it's coming together slowly. Thanks for reading this, and, as always, comments, kudos, and questions are always appreciated!


	18. Reunions and Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irene and Nick make their way through Fort Hagen. Many surprises await them, including new enemies. When Irene finally faces her Goliath, he confesses a secret that changes Irene's world. Can she recover?

They dropped down into what was once a storage room.  
“Hello? Who is there?” a robotic voice called out. Nick tensed up. She looked at him, curious.  
“Synths,” was all he said. Irene became anxious. She'd never faced synths before, and didn't know what they were capable of. Nick would have to fight other synths, as well. She looked at him.  
“Are you going to be okay, fighting other synths?”  
“Synths or not, they're with the Institute. They ain't going to welcome us with open arms.” A laser bolt just missed them, cutting off whatever else he was going to say. Two synths came into view. They were nothing like Nick. They had more missing skin than him, so more wiring and parts were exposed. Their voices weren't as harsh and smoky as Nick's; theirs were more robotic, and devoid of any personality. Even though their eyes had the same yellow glow, they made Irene nervous in a way Nick's eyes didn't. Nick and Irene fired at the synths. They were lucky, and their bullets hit crucial parts of the synths. They fell down, dead. Irene took their laser pistol and rifle.  
“Which one do you want, Nick?” she asked as she held them both out to him. He grabbed the rifle. Irene was fine with that; she preferred pistols anyway.

Two other synths came running towards them, firing their laser pistols. Irene and Nick stopped them quickly, and took the fusion cells they carried. Irene checked the kitchen that was next to them, and found some purified water and food, and on the table there was an issue of Guns and Bullets. Irene grabbed it; with so many Pre-War weapons still in use, it would come in handy. They snuck down the stairs. They could hear more synths in the other room, but there was a protectron with a control terminal in front of them.  
“You want me to take a look at that terminal, just say the word,” Nick told Irene. She nodded at him, and he crept forward to hack it. He showed her what he was doing, and how to guess the password.  
“In case you ever need to do it without me,” he said. Irene had never been very good with computers before the War, so she really didn't think she'd start now. It was considerate of him to show her how, though. After Nick's second guess, he unlocked the computer. He activated the protectron, and it wandered off to patrol the area.  
Irene grinned at Nick. “Now we've got some backup.”

They crept through the building, trying to either catch the hostile synths by surprise, or avoid them altogether. She wasn't sure what to think, with all these synths in the building. Whatever their reason for being here, she was worried about what it meant for Shaun.  
“Do you think Kellogg is working for the Institute? Or did they wipe him out, searching for something else?” she asked Nick. He'd said he didn't remember anything about the Institute, that no synth did, but he was the closest thing to an expert she knew. He sighed.  
“I don't know. There are stories of synths wiping out settlements for technology and supplies. Possible they're here doing the same thing. Of course, it's possible Kellogg's working with them, and they're tryin' to keep us from him. Don't have enough information to make a good guess.”  
“If they killed him, do you think they killed Shaun?” she asked, her voice trembling. Her eyes watered, and she quickly wiped them dry with her sleeve.  
“If Kellogg isn't working for the Institute and they came a'calling, he'd hide Shaun for whoever hired him. We'll find him, don't you worry about that.” Nick patted her hand, and she gave him a weak smile.

They found a lot of military-grade equipment that could be salvaged; circuitry, helmets, grenades, mines, even extra strong duct tape. Even though the focus was on Shaun, Irene grabbed as much as she could, and asked Nick to do the same. Military tech was expensive even before the War; she couldn't imagine how precious it would be now. A box of grenades and mines had been booby-trapped, but thanks to what Preston taught her, she was able to disarm it. Sanctuary could use all this stuff, or trade it for other things they needed.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * *

By now, Irene was getting frustrated. They'd spent almost an hour combing this building, facing turrets and synths; the protectron had taken down a couple of synths, but it had been destroyed by more of them. Nick had jokingly told her not to run into any turrets, causing Irene to think she'd never live down her Corvega mistake. The turrets weren't too bad though. The synths were what she hated fighting the most. They were relentless. A raider, or another human, or an animal, those would stop if they got hurt too badly. They'd go away to lick their wounds, to fight another day. Not these synths. Unless their major parts got destroyed, they'd still fight; it didn't matter if they were missing an arm, or a leg, they would still attack. Every moment Irene and Nick spent fighting the synths was a moment more than Shaun was in danger. With all the debris in the building, they had to find alternate routes to get to some of the rooms. They did a lot of doubling back.

Finally, they found a brightly lit room, with a terminal attached to a pillar in the center. Beyond the pillar, a turret attached to the ceiling swept slowly across the room. It was different from the others Irene had seen; it had to be Pre-War, but she didn't think it used bullets. They hid behind the corner of a wall, so it wouldn't see them.  
“Laser turret,” Nick murmured.  
Irene nodded, and whispered back to him, “The terminal on the pillar probably controls it. Think you could sneak up there, and hack it?”  
“Do my best.” Nick kept low, and snuck slowly. He kept the pillar between himself and the turret. Irene watched as he got closer and closer to the terminal. He was almost there. She heard the turret whirr to action. It swung around directly at Nick. Irene grabbed her laser pistol. She was ready to fire. Nick reached the terminal, and started working on it. The turret stayed on alert, pointed directly next to Nick. Thirty seconds passed. Forty-five. One minute. One minute, thirty seconds. Two minutes. Two minutes, thirty seconds. Irene heard the computer ding. Nick had gotten in. He powered down the turret, and it went dormant.

Irene let out a breath; she hadn't realized she'd been holding it in. Nick motioned to her, and she walked forward.  
“This terminal also controlled the door for that cage over there. There's a couple boxes of ammo we could use,” Nick told her. She thanked him, and went over to the cage. There was ammunition in the boxes, as well as a first aid kit, and some military salvage. She put everything in her backpack.

Unchaining a door led into a hallway they'd been in earlier. They wanted the shortest route possible, if they needed to make a quick escape. At the end of the room was an elevator. Irene knew that's where they had to go next. Her palms were sweaty, and her stomach was tied up in knots. Anything could be on the other side of the elevator, if it even still worked. _Is Shaun on the other side? Is Kellogg?_  
“You okay, kid?” Nick's voice broke through her thoughts, dragging her out of her head.  
“I don't know. What if they're dead?” Her head felt light and floaty, and she gasped to get more air.  
“Look at me, Irene. Look at me.” Nick's calm voice had no effect, so he grabbed her shoulders, turning her around and forcing her face up to look at him. His yellow eyes glowed at her, and she focused on them. “It's not doin' you any good to focus on what-ifs right now. We have no idea what's at the end of this elevator. You need to ignore what could be, and focus on what's happenin' right now. Ignoring that will get someone killed out here in the Commonwealth. We'll take things as they happen, you got that?”  
Irene nodded, her breaths evening out. Nick was right. She couldn't risk her fears getting in the way of rescuing Shaun. “We use the elevator, find Kellogg, and get Shaun; we kill Kellogg if necessary.”

They called the elevator; thankfully, it was still working. The doors opened, revealing the elevator to be intact. Irene was thankful for that. The elevator voice shorted out as they went down. They had no idea what floor they were on. As the doors opened onto a hallway, Irene could see a turret at the end.  
“Nick…”  
“I see it.”

They crept forward, keeping low, with their guns at the ready. They unchained another door, which led back out into the fort when they opened it. The turret still hadn't spotted them, probably because it was so dark. Irene was grateful for the dimness though; she was able to spot a laser tripwire because of it, and disarmed the trap. The turret stopped its sweeping back and forth, and whirred to life. They opened fire on it, taking shelter behind a thick metal cart. They destroyed it, as well as two synths next to it.

Continuing forward, they crept through the building. They checked every room they found, not wanting to be surprised by any sneak attacks from the rear. As they went down the stairs, they heard speakers crackle to life.  
“Well, if it isn't my old friend, the frozen TV dinner. Last time we met, you were cozying up to the peas and apple cobblers.”  
“That's him, Nick! That's the bastard who killed my dad. He's the one who took Shaun. He's here, I knew he'd be here,” Irene whispered. She didn't want to be too loud; the less advantage this monster had, the better. She hadn't come this far to fail.  
“Don't let him rile you up, kid. He wants you to make a mistake.”  
“That's not going to happen, Nick. I know he's a killer; I'm not going to make things easy for him. Keep reminding me in case I forget, though.”

Traps and turrets were in their way, but they took them down easily. Irene was on high alert, and she knew Nick was as well. Kellogg wasn't to be underestimated.  
“Sorry your house has been a wreck for over two hundred years, but I don't need a roommate. Leave.” Kellogg's voice cut through the silence again, still over the speakers. Irene gritted her teeth and ignored him. They were in the depths of Fort Hagen now. This was where the personnel lived, or were supposed to live after the bombs fell. Irene figured that only the high-ranking personnel got that chance.  
“I've got to admit, I never expected you to come knocking on my door. Gave you 50/50 odds of make it to Diamond City, then the Commonwealth would chew you up like jerky. Guess I was wrong.”  
Synths attacked them, but Irene and Nick killed them easily; these synths only had shock batons. The hallway they were in surrounded a center room, but the room was dark, and the doors magnetically locked. They had to go around, and hope Kellogg wouldn't try and escape.

“Look, you're pissed off. I get it, I do, but whatever you hope to accomplish here? It's not going to go your way.”  
Irene ignored him as they did a sweep of a room with bunk beds and lockers. It was obviously where the personnel were supposed to sleep. She didn't want to think about if they'd had time to use it or not; there were too many skeletons in the fort, even at this level. They found turrets or synths, or both, in almost every room they checked. In the generator room, though, they found a fully charged fusion core, which Irene snatched for her power armor. In the infirmary, they found a trove of stimpaks, Rad-X, and Rad-Away.  
“Careful, he might try to ambush us,” Nick warned her in his gravelly voice.

Nick's warning came true after they entered the mess hall. After they'd gone into the kitchen, Irene had grabbed a Vault-Tec bobblehead; they were cute, and Shaun might like to play with them, once she'd gotten him back from Kellogg. Four synths surprised them at the door that led back to the hallway. Irene and Nick took cover behind the tables as laser fire poured down on them. The synths were staying together, not trying to flank them. Irene showed Nick a plasma grenade she'd found earlier, and he nodded. She threw the grenade, and covered her ears. She heard a dull thud as it landed. Moments passed. A prickly feeling raced over her whole body. The hair on her arms stood up. Nick tapped her shoulder. The grenade had exploded, reducing the synths into green goo. Irene's eyes widened at the sight. “Well, that was handy.”  
Nick chuckled, and agreed.

They continued on. Irene saw a blue glow down a small stairwell, and decided to investigate. They found a skeleton, with a bottle of Nuka-Cola Quantum and a computer password. She grabbed both. They grabbed those, and went back up the stairs to resume their course. After killing a couple of synths they took by surprise, the speakers crackled on again.  
“You've got guts and determination. That's admirable. But you're in way over your head in ways you can't possibly comprehend.” Kellogg's rough voice echoed around them. “It's not too late. Stop. Turn around, and leave. You have that option. Not a lot of people can say that.”  
“Go to hell, Kellogg,” Irene muttered. She wasn't going to buy into his psychological mind games now, or ever.

Next in the hallway was a terminal mounted next to a locked door. Entering the password they'd found unlocked the computer. Opening the door, they found an armory with stimpaks, boxes of bobby pins, a lot of ammunition, and a launcher of some sort. Nick's eyes glowed brighter. “Well, isn't that something. We've found ourselves a Fat Man.”  
“What's that?”  
“It's a launcher for mini nukes. They're highly sought after. A single person can use it. Not good for tight quarters, but Sanctuary will certainly be safer.”  
Irene nodded, and grabbed it. It would be bulky to carry along, but Nick said it was rare.

Exiting the armory, they found a bedroom with a copy of the U.S. Special Operations Manual. Irene grabbed it to read later. In the bathroom, there was a first-aid kit, with stimpaks, as well as some Rad-Away. Nick looked at a terminal in the bedroom, hacking it quickly.  
“Found us the controls for the turrets. I turned 'em off for us. One less thing we have to worry about.”

The next room was a waiting room, and then a larger office. It was filled with old furniture, things Irene even considered antiques. A large American flag was in one section of the room, but it was old and full of holes. Inconsistent with the antiques was the bright white, metal-and-plastic furniture in another corner of the room. It was clean, much cleaner than anything else. There were  
“Kellogg must be working with the Institute. I can't think of any other group here in the Commonwealth who'd have access to stuff like this.”  
A sigh sounded through the room. “Okay, you made it. I'm just up ahead. My synths are standing down. Let's talk.” Kellogg's voice sounded tired, but Irene knew better than to let that fool her.

The locks clicked on the door opposite them, and it swung open. Irene checked her laser pistol, making sure that it was fully loaded, and Nick did the same. She dropped the Fat Man. They walked forward slowly, coming out into a dark room. The lights suddenly turned on. Irene had to blink to clear her vision, but there he was. Kellogg, the monster who has murdered her dad. Who had kidnapped her baby brother. Who had made the mistake of leaving her alive. He walked forward with his hands up.  
“And here she is, the most resilient girl in the Commonwealth.”

Three synths stepped forward. Their weapons were still in their hands, but lowered, and with the safeties on. They flanked Irene and Nick, who stepped further inside; they didn't really have a choice to stay further back. Kellogg stepped forward more.  
“Let's talk.”  
Irene raised her pistol, aiming it at his head. “Enough! Where's Shaun? Where's my baby brother?”  
Kellogg chuckled darkly, his voice calm and soft. “Girlie, I'm a puppet, just like you, only my stage is bigger. Shaun's a good kid. Not so much a baby anymore, but he's doing great. Only… he's not here. He's with the people pulling the strings.”  
_No…_ Irene felt a rushing in her ears, could hear her blood pounding away. “Then where are they?”  
“What's the cliché? So close, yet so far? That's Shaun. Don't worry. You'll die knowing that he's safe and happy. A bit older than you expected, but he's in a loving home. At the Institute.”  
“Here, the Institute, I'll find him, no matter where he is. Nothing is going to stop me!” Irene yelled, her voice tight with anger.  
Kellogg looked at her thoughtfully. “God, you're persistent. I give you credit, I didn't think siblings could be that close. More like a parent, the way I'd be acting if my kid had been taken, I like to think. Even if it's useless.” He shifted his weight. “Now, we both know how this is going to end. So, you ready?”  
Irene adjusted her grip on her pistol ever so slightly. “You know I am, monster.”

Nick focused his fire on the synths. He left Kellogg to her. She aimed at the monster's head. She fired, hoping to hit his head. She didn't really care where they landed on him. She just wanted him dead. Two shots to his torso. One shot missed. Two shots to his head. Kellogg dropped to the ground. Four holes were burned into him. One was through his left eye. The smell of singed flesh and hair was in the air. Irene helped Nick with the remaining synth. It went down easily. Irene scrambled back to Kellogg's body, searching to see if he had a code, a map, anything to help her find Shaun. She found a piece of paper with what looked like a password, “S4r4h&M4ry”, his gun. She also found what looked like synth parts in him.  
“You were more machine than man, weren't you? Not even a good one, like Nick or Codsworth.” Irene whispered. She found ammunition, a stimpak, even a Stealth Boy, but nothing else.  
“Nick, help me find a computer.”

Nick nodded, and they looked around the command center. In the back, on more white furniture, they found a terminal. Irene entered the phrase she found on Kellogg, and it worked. Unfortunately, the only thing on the computer was a note about Shaun being delivered to the Institute, and how Kellogg had been ordered to find a “renegade”. She unlocked the doors, and turned around to face Nick.  
“So, Kellogg wasn't lying, your brother really is on the inside. But nobody knows where that is. Even I don't, and they built me.”  
“There's got to be a way, Nick. There… there just has to be!” Irene could feel her eyes filling with tears. This wasn't supposed to happen, not at all. Her head was pounding. Her throat was tight. Her hands were shaking. She felt as cold as when she'd been in the cryogenic chamber. Her chest hurt, her stomach hurt, her breathing was becoming faster. Her knees buckled. Nick caught her before she hit the ground, and she sobbed into his coat.  
“He was supposed to be here. Kellogg was here, so Shaun was supposed to be here too! I was supposed to kill Kellogg, save Shaun, and go back to Sanctuary with him. But he's not… not here! He's not here! He's supposed to be here, Nick. He's supposed to be here!” Irene wailed her grief. Nick held her, letting her cry. He knew the Commonwealth shattered dreams, and no matter how much she'd changed since she'd thawed, Irene was still a Pre-War kid who'd been dreaming of home.

“Only person I know willing to snoop up the Institute's tail feathers is Piper in Diamond City. We'll head back there, get some fresh eyes on this,” Nick told her gently, easing her into a desk chair. Irene looked up at him.  
“What's the point,” she said miserably, “the same thing will happen. He could have been lying, maybe the Institute doesn't have my brother. We're never going to find Shaun.”  
Nick sighed. “Maybe we will, and maybe we won't, but don't you want to try?”  
“What if it's another dead-end? You said people have been searching for years, and haven't found the Institute. Why would we, when so many others haven't?” She started weeping again.  
“Hey, chin up, kid. I know the night just got darker, but it won't last forever. Let's get out of this mausoleum.” He grabbed a copy of RobCo Fun that still had its game, for Irene, grabbed the Fat Man, and then grabbed Irene and propelled her out the door. She let Nick lead her, not caring where she went. _What's the point anymore?_ Nick dragged her to an elevator they couldn't reach before, one that would go up. When the elevator reached the roof, Nick led her a terminal, which unlocked the door.

They opened the door, and saw a huge ship up in the air. Gigantic, silvery metal, like an old airship. Several vertibirds flew around it, and all the ships had spotlights. A voice echoed through the sky.  
“People of the Commonwealth, do not interfere. Our intentions are peaceful. We are the Brotherhood of Steel.”  
Nick and Irene stared up at them, lost in their own thoughts.  
“Deep into that darkness, peering. Long I stood there, wondering, fearing,” Nick murmured. He sighed, “Let's get you back to Diamond City.”

He led Irene down the ramps to the roof of the fort, where Dogmeat met them at the bottom. As soon as he saw Irene, the dog galloped forward. Irene didn't look up. He nudged her hand, and whined, cocking his head to the side. She still ignored him.  
“She's not feeling too well, boy. We'll get her back to the Agency, see if we can get her feeling better. Let's go, Dogmeat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! Thanks for reading this chapter.  
> Poor Irene. I felt so bad writing her breakdown. I've never had a breakdown like that, so I was going off of some things my friends have said they felt when they've had panic attacks, or depressive episodes. 
> 
> Apologies for any spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, I still don't have a beta reader.


	19. Saving Paladin Danse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick makes it back to Diamond City with Irene in tow. After spending a few days healing, Irene remembers her promise to help Paladin Danse. She and her friends join the prickly Paladin to recover some lost Pre-War tech.

Nick and Ellie looked after Irene for four days. Deciding the Dugout Inn was no place for her at the moment, Nick had her stay at the Agency. She slept in his bed; he said he mostly used it as a place to think anyway. He and Ellie badgered her into eating, into sleeping, into taking care of herself. Dogmeat stayed by her side, no matter what. He was always there to lick her tears away, to let her hug him, rest her head on his furry side. Piper often visited as well, having taken a shine to the Vault-dweller who wanted to help people just to help. Preston visited one day, worried about the lack of contact. Nick had filled him in on what happened. Preston had wanted to stay longer, but Sanctuary needed protection and supplies, so he took all the salvage back with him. No one talked about Shaun, about how to find him next. They focused their attentions on Irene, letting her rest and heal. By the fifth day, she woke up and got dressed without being told to. Ellie smiled at her as Irene joined the older woman for breakfast. Nick was already smoking a cigarette.

“I think I'm ready to go back out, Nick,” Irene said as she ate some noodles, “but not to find Shaun. I think I need to help some other people right now.”  
Nick somehow blew out a long trail of smoke, the cloud billowing out through his open throat and his nose. Irene didn't know how he did that; after all, he didn't have lungs. “Where do you want to start, kid?”  
Irene shifted in her seat, not sure how to phrase this. “Well, when Preston and I were on our way to Diamond City, we ran into some people who were facing some feral ghouls. We helped them fight the ghouls off, but they asked our help to get a transmitter. I said no, that we had to get to Diamond City first, but that I'd be back to help them after I found… well, it's been a while, and I think they need my help most right now.” Irene wasn't sure how to continue. Over the last few days, she'd heard Nick, Piper, and Ellie talking about the Brotherhood of Steel, how they'd heard the group didn't like synths, or ghouls, or super mutants. She hoped Nick wouldn't dislike helping them, but she felt like she had to. Maybe seeing Nick, a synth, helping them would change their minds? She wouldn't force Nick to help someone he didn't want to, though.  
“Well, alright then. Who are they, and where are they?”  
Irene squirmed. “They're at the Cambridge police station. Nick, they're… they're from the Brotherhood of Steel. I overheard you guys and Piper talking about how they don't like synths, and I understand if you don't want to help them, and that's fine, but I told them I'd help them, and…”  
Nick interrupted her fast torrent of words. “Hold on, I'm not going to let you go running off on your own, not that you'd do a bad job of protecting her Dogmeat,” he said to the dog, who whuffed good-naturedly, “but right now you need more than just him. If you want to help these people, then I'll help you do that.”  
Irene felt tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. _How was I lucky enough to find Nick?_ “Thank you, Nick. Is it okay if we head out today? They were getting short on supplies, and I don't want them to run out.”  
“As soon as you're done with breakfast, we can leave,” he replied.

They left Diamond City an hour later, heading north to Cambridge. Their trip was an uneventful hour; no raider, super mutants, or animals bothered them, and they didn't even find any feral ghouls in Cambridge. No one was outside the police station, but there were feral corpses that looked fresh.  
“Probably a day or two old,” Nick said. “I'll wait outside while you go in. Don't want them to ruin this mug more than it already is.”  
Irene giggled at that. Nick smiled broadly at her; it was the first time she'd laughed since they found out about Shaun. Irene walked up the steps, and entered the police station.

“Paladin Danse? Scribe Haylen? Knight Rhys? It's me, Irene. I helped you with the feral ghouls a few days ago?” she called out as she opened the door of the station and entered with Dogmeat. She didn't want them to shoot her. The woman, Scribe Haylen poked her head around a corner.  
“I remember you! I was a little worried when you didn't come back.”  
“I'm sorry it took me so long. This became very…” she trailed off, thinking about Kellogg and Shaun. Scribe Haylen noticed her faraway look, but Paladin Danse arrived before she could say anything.  
“I see you've returned, civilian.” He was still in his power armor, tromping through the station like an earthquake.  
“My name's Irene. If you don't want to call me that, my last name is Whittaker. I'm not just “civilian”, thank you very much.”  
Scribe Haylen hid a smile, and turned back to her work.  
“All right, Whittaker. Did you come all this way with only your dog? I recall another civilian, a man, being with you when you helped us.”  
“That was Preston Garvey, of the Commonwealth Minutemen. He had to return to our settlement. I didn't come alone, though. I have a friend with me, but I wanted to talk to you before he came in. I've heard that the Brotherhood of Steel doesn't like certain people, is that true?”  
“We certainly do not like raiders, and the Gunners we've heard about do pose a threat to the Commonwealth, but those are the only groups of people who the Brotherhood is actively hostile to.”  
“What about synths, and non-feral ghouls?” Irene queried.  
“You said people, and they are not people. They are abominations, products of Pre-War man's hubris, arrogance, and pride.” The Paladin's voice took on a condescending tone, and it rankled Irene. It sounded too much like some of the people talked about the Chinese during the War. As if, just because they were on the opposite side, they were lesser. Her dad hadn't liked people like that; it had been a Chinese medic who saved his life.  
“But if a friendly synth wanted to help you, would you destroy them?”  
“We have not encountered any synths, friendly or otherwise, but it is our policy to kill them when we find them.”

Knight Rhys, who'd walked into the room in the middle of the conversation, confronted Irene. “Why are you so concerned? Are _you_ a synth?” He tightened his grip on the laser rifle in his hands, ready to aim it at her.  
Irene sighed. She'd hoped things wouldn't have turned out like this. “No, I'm not a synth. I'm as human as they come. I did come here with a synth though, a good one. He helped me find the man who… killed my dad. He's not into snatching people, or whatever else the Institute synths do.”  
“How do you know?” The Knight challenged.  
Irene sighed again. People like this, hard-headed soldiers always ready for a fight, had annoyed her even before the War. Unfortunately, or maybe luckily, she'd had to deal with a lot of them during her dad's work helping other veterans like himself. “Because if he was, he's had plenty of time and opportunities to do that to me, but he hasn't. He even knows the Brotherhood doesn't like synths, but came with me to help you anyway, because it's the right thing to do.”  
“Paladin Danse, we can't trust this synth-loving-”  
“That's enough, Rhys!” Paladin Danse interrupted the Knight's rant. “I'll speak with the civilian, and I'll see about this so-called “friendly” synth myself. Lead on, Whittaker.” He nodded to Irene. His laser rifle's safety was off, but he held the rifle down, out of the way. She decided to take a chance, and trusted Nick to be fast enough to get out of the way if needed.  
****************************************************************

Irene, Dogmeat, and the Paladin exited the police station. Nick stood by an entrance of the wooden barricade, smoking a cigarette. His naked metal hand was clearly visible, but so far Paladin Danse hadn't aimed his rifle. Nick looked at them.  
“Nick, this is Paladin Danse, of the Brotherhood of Steel. Paladin Danse, this is Nick Valentine, a synth detective, and one of my friends.”  
“Paladin Danse. My friend tells me you need some help?”  
“Synth. How do I know you're not working for the Institute?”  
“You don't, not really, and I don't expect you'll be satisfied with anythin' I tell you. The Institute threw me into a garbage pile years ago, without a memory in my head, and now I'm a detective specializing in missing persons. Most Institute synths that look like me don't go around wearin' clothes like this, though.”  
The Paladin still hadn't aimed his rifle at Nick, which Irene took as a good sign. The soldier turned to her. “Are you sure you trust this abomination?”  
“Don't sugar-coat it on my account,” Nick drawled. Paladin Danse looked annoyed at the interruption, but Irene spoke before he could say something.  
“I trust Nick with my life, Paladin. I trusted him to help me find the man who killed my dad and kidnapped my brother, and I trust him to help me hunt down the Institute who took my brother.”

Paladin Danse turned away. Irene worried; would he kill Nick, or refuse their help? She hoped he wouldn't. She thought he was a decent person, and, well, he was pretty handsome, too. He turned back to them, his face sour, but resigned.  
“Are you ready to head to ArcJet?”  
Irene relaxed. “Absolutely, Paladin Danse.”  
He nodded. “Outstanding. Let's move out, and try not to lag behind.” He turned to face Nick. “I do not trust you, and will be watching you for any signs of treachery, synth.”

Paladin Danse went inside the station to let the others know he was going. He came out with his helmet on, a good idea in case they met any raiders. He led them away from the police station, with Irene behind him, Nick behind her, and Dogmeat bringing up the rear. They moved south to the road.  
“ArcJet is a short hike to the west. If we follow this road, we can avoid the larger packs of ferals infesting Cambridge. Traveling this far from the police station is a risk, but getting that transmitter up and running needs to be our top priority,” Paladin Danse explained, his voice tinny from the speaker in his helmet. Irene readied her 10mm pistol; Arturo had given her a great deal on ammo. Nick had his pipe revolver ready, and Dogmeat was alert as he followed them. Since the Paladin was in his power armor, Irene had to quicken her pace to keep up with him. The Paladin spoke again, his voice as low as he could make it. “If it was up to me, I'd relocate my team, but Scribe Haylen has picked up some disturbing energy readings we need to investigate. We don't know much about them, except that they're short-lived, and broadcast on a frequency only obtainable with high levels of technology.”  
“So Pre-War, you think?” Irene asked the soldier.  
“We don't have enough information yet, but we are concerned that whoever, or whatever, is creating those energy readings could be a potential threat. It's our job to investigate.”

Weaving around the shells of old automobiles, long stripped of any useful parts, they followed the road west. As they came closer to an old stone bridge, Irene stopped. Dogmeat had run ahead of her and Paladin Danse, and was casting about in the air, his whole body tense.  
“What is it, boy? Is there trouble up there?” Irene knew better than to ignore Dogmeat's warnings. He barked once, and faced the bridge. She turned to the Paladin next to her. “Paladin Danse, Dogmeat's warning us that there's trouble ahead, probably right at that bridge there.”  
The Paladin looked at her. “Do you trust this dog enough to know that, or does he just want to play?” Dogmeat growled at the soldier, causing the man to start, and Irene to hide a small smile.  
“He understands a lot more than people think he does, Paladin. He's never led me wrong yet.”  
The soldier nodded. “We'll head up on that hillside, then, and see if we can catch whoever they are by surprise.”

They snuck up the hillside, Paladin Danse being surprisingly stealthy in his power armor. As they got closer, Irene was glad for Dogmeat's warning. A small group of raiders, four from what she could see, were holding up a traveling merchant. The Brotherhood soldier stopped a short distance away.  
“What's the plan, Paladin Danse?”  
“We'll focus our fire on the raiders, and hopefully the trader won't be shot. Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do from this position, and the raiders would spot us and shoot the trader before we could move to a better one. I'll take the raider closest to the hostage. Whittaker.”  
Irene turned to Dogmeat. “Do you think you can get close, and help the trader get safe?” Dogmeat whuffed quietly. He wriggled along on his belly through the undergrowth. The raiders didn't see him, but they were getting more agitated.

After a few moments, Dogmeat was as close as he could be to the hostage. Irene, Nick, and Paladin Danse opened fire. Dogmeat sprang out. He dragged the trader away by their shirt. They stayed behind an old van. Paladin Danse dropped his target, one laser shot to the head. Irene shot a gas masked raider by the bridge. They dropped, three shots in their head. Nick's bullets found a home in the body of a third raider. They pinned the fourth raider behind a bridge pylon. A shot barely missed Irene. She looked around. A fifth raider had come up on their left. He wasn't wearing a helmet; perfect for a headshot. Irene fired twice. Three shots rang out. The raider dropped, two bullet holes in his head and a burning laser wound where his eye had been. The final raider started to run away from the pylon. Nick stood up, and fired. The raider stumbled onto the ground. Blood poured from their leg. The trader stood up from behind the car, and walked over to the raider. She fired, and the pavement was covered by blood and brains.

Irene and the others walked down to her. Irene searched the raiders, looking for anything useful.  
“Thanks for the help. Couple of those damn raiders faked being guards, then said they knew a “short cut”. Worst fucking decision of my life.”  
“Are you injured, civilian?” Paladin Danse towered over the woman, who shook her head.  
“Nah, only my pride. Thought I could spot a bad guard a mile off. You can have their gear, with my thanks.”  
Irene looked at the trader. “Actually, you can have their stuff. I grabbed what we need, but their clothes and guns are too bulky for us to carry.”  
The woman looked surprised. “Well, thanks again. That's pretty nice of you.”  
Irene smiled at her. “You're welcome. We're just glad to help.” She whistled for Dogmeat, and they continued up the road.

“It might surprise you that my recon team isn't the first to visit the Commonwealth.” Paladin Danse tromped next to Irene, having slowed his pace a bit. “Over the last seven years, two other teams have been dispatched here by the Brotherhood to gather technology. The first team's mission was a huge success; they came back with crates of Pre-War artifacts and documents. The second team wasn't so fortunate. We lost contact with them shortly after they arrived, and we haven't heard from them since. As far as my team goes, we've lost four good men two this godforsaken wasteland. We've been targets since we arrived. Despite our setbacks, I don't intend to give up and head home empty-handed… or go missing.”  
Irene could hear the guilt and frustration in the Paladin's voice. She remembered her dad sounding like that sometimes, when the disappointments of the war were still fresh after his discharge. “I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your men. My father was a soldier. The deaths of his comrades always affected him deeply, even after he left the service.”  
“Was he with the Minutemen, like your companion who helped us with the ferals?”  
_Well, this is awkward._ “Um, no, not really. He was in the U.S. Army. I'm actually from before the bombs fell. I was frozen in a Vault until almost a month ago.”  
Paladin Danse, to his credit, only slowed his steps instead of stopping completely. He looked at her; Irene was unable to tell what was going through his mind behind that helmet he was wearing. “You say that you are Pre-War?”  
“Yes, I am.” She didn't know how he'd take it. _Does he believe me? Does he think I'm joking, or trying to trick him? I hope he doesn't._

The rest of their hike to ArcJet was silent. They killed some bloatflies that attacked them, as well as some wild dogs. Luckily, they didn't encounter any more raiders.  
“There it is, ArcJet Systems.” Paladin Danse wove his way through the wrecks of cars that were still in the parking lot. The building was tall, but rusted in places. The chain-link fence Irene remembered passing one time was still around the building. “There shouldn't be any exterior security, so we'll head in through the front. It was corporations like this that put the last nail in the coffin for mankind. They exploited technology for their own gain, pocketing cash and ignoring the damage.”

Inside the building was a wreck, like every other Pre-War ruin Irene had seen so far. There were skeletons still on the benches in the waiting room; Irene didn't want to focus on that, only hoping they went quickly. Paladin Danse stopped just inside, and they gathered around him.  
“Follow me. We'll do a sweep of the building to find the transmitter. Once we find it, we leave the building and go back to the station.” He headed off, and Irene and the others followed him. Inside a small security room, they found the torn-apart remains of several Protectrons. The Paladin stopped, examining the carnage.  
“Damn it, I was hoping to avoid this. Look at these wrecks. It appears the facility's automated defenses have already been taken care of.”  
“Looks like the Institute's handiwork to me,” Nick drawled, “just like the Protectron we found at Fort Hagen.”  
“You have encountered the Institute before?”  
“We have, Paladin Danse. Like I told you outside the station, Nick helped me track down the man who killed my dad. The monster worked for the Institute, and had a bunch of synths protecting him. According to him, the Institute took my brother.”  
“If you've fought synths before, then you know what they're capable of. We stay together, I don't want you wandering off and killed by synths.”  
Irene bristled. “We're not stupid, you know. We know what to do, and how to be safe.”  
The Paladin gazed at her. “We'll see about that. Let's move out.”

They made their way through the building. A mag-locked door presented a difficulty, but Irene found a terminal password that allowed her to unlock the doors. They opened up to reveal three synths. Paladin Danse opened fire, with Nick and Irene close behind.  
“Stay out of the way, Dogmeat. They're mostly metal; they'll hurt your teeth.” Irene didn't want her dog getting hurt because of some unpleasant synths. Danse led them all through the rooms and hallways, eliminating the synths they found. Due to the amount of destruction in the building, there was no simple route; they had to make their own. Outside a hallway of offices, they found some ceiling mounted laser turrets.  
“Who the hell puts turrets outside an _office_?” Nick yelled. “I'll look for a terminal, see if I can turn these off.”  
“You aren't going anywhere, synth! I won't risk you communicating our position to the others here, or using the turrets for your own purposes. We'll destroy the turrets.”  
Irene sighed at the Paladin's obstinacy; when Nick saw her, she rolled her eyes. They leaned out of their cover, and the turrets went down with a few shots.

They followed a ramp, made by a fallen floor, downwards, until they reached a door.  
“The Engine Core. Should be our final stop.” Paladin Danse opened the door, letting Irene and the others in first. The hallway they entered was even more dimly lit and decrepit than the previous parts of the building.  
“Watch your footing. It appears the power is out in this sector,” the Paladin warned them. His helmet's light switched on, allowing them to see more of the debris on the floor. They carefully made their way down the hallway, doing their best to avoid tripping on the fallen ceiling tiles, exposed wires, and other junk on the floor. They came out onto a metal walkway, dozens of feet off the ground. It creaked and groaned under their feet. Irene worried if it would hold up their weight, especially with Paladin Danse's power armor. Part of the walkway leading up was broken, leaving downwards their only way to go. Dogmeat ran down, Irene and Nick following him. They looked back at their final companion, who was standing still.  
“Look at this place,” he said, awe clear in his voice, “the Scribes would have a field day.” Irene grinned; even tough Paladin Danse could be awestruck sometimes. He roused himself, and followed them down the metal stairs. As he tromped down, he said, “The transmitter should be in the control room, at the top of the stairs. It looks like the elevators are dead. We'll continue further down into the facility, and find a way to restore the power. You three scout the rest of the rooms; I'll remain here to ensure no synths attack you from the rear.”

Irene and the others followed a hallway off of the testing floor. They ended up in the control room. Chunks of concrete had fallen off the walls, exposing the steel reinforcements. On a table, there was a large… was it an engine?  
“Junk Jet…” Irene read from its side. A couple holo-tapes were next to it, one labeled “Junk Jet Instructions”, so she popped it into her Pip-Boy. It turned out the Junk Jet was a gun, that propelled random junk. “Oh, I am _definitely_ bringing this back to Sanctuary. It's too weird to just leave here,” Irene said with a grin. She tied it onto Dogmeat's harness with some rope, resting it on his back. Nick just shook his head, a small smile on his face.  
“Whatever you say, kid.” He walked into the back room, and called out. “Didn't you say you had some power armor? There's a fusion core here.”  
Irene scrambled into the back room, and grabbed the green, glowing object. On a low cabinet in the room was a terminal, still working. She checked it; it needed a password.  
“Care to give it a try?” Nick asked her, continuing, “You've had a bit of practice with the ones at the Science Center.”  
Irene chewed her lip. She had done some practice, after Fort Hagen. Nick showing her how to hack some easy terminals in the Science Center, the ladies who worked there having owed Nick a favor. The password for this one was only four letters…  
“Sure, why not.” She looked at the potential passwords. A lot of them had letters in common, which was good. She tried one; it didn't work. A second guess was also incorrect, but now she'd eliminated six possible passwords. She tried another one, and the terminal dinged. The password was correct, and she was in. Irene turned to Nick, a huge grin on her face. _I did it!_ She started up the auxiliary power generators, and the lights turned on.

Muffled thumps came from outside the room. She rushed back to the control room, to see over fifteen synths swarming Paladin Danse. He was firing his laser rifle, but there were too many of them for him to take down.  
“We have to help him!” Irene started towards the door, but Nick pulled her back.  
“There's too many of them. We'll get ourselves killed.”

Irene looked around the room, hoping desperately to find something, anything, to even the odds. An automated voice stated that the engine was fueled and ready for testing. _Synths are able to be melted or burned by laser rifles. Paladin Danse has T-60 power armor. T-60 armor can withstand high heat…_ More synths fell onto the engine room floor, focusing their fire on Paladin Danse. He fell down onto one knee. Irene hit the button to turn on the engine. A countdown started. Ten. A synth fell. Nine. Dogmeat whimpered. Eight. Seven. Six. More synths fell, downed by Paladin Danse's laser fire. Five. Four. More synths dropped down to replace them. Three. Two. One.

Two rods beneath the engine sparked, flaming to life. Something whooshed out, causing the engine to ignite. The area was bathed in flames. The synths melted, some parts burning to ashes. Paladin Danse fell onto his hands and knees. His armor glowed red. The flames were white hot. Finally, the engine stopped. Irene rushed out, ignoring the ash and burn marks on the floor. She could feel the heat through her boots, but that wasn't important; Paladin Danse was.  
“Paladin Danse! Are you okay? Are you alive?” she called, hoping she hadn't killed the man while trying to save him. He slowly lifted his head up, the helmet hiding his face from Irene's view. She could feel the heat radiating off of his armor.  
“I'm… I'm alright,” he croaked, “got cooked… by the flames, but my power armor kept me in one piece.” “I thought it would, since T-60 armor can withstand high temperatures, but I forgot about how it might heat up. I saw all the synths attacking you, and I panicked. I heard the computer… voice… thing, saying that the engine was ready to be turned on, and I remembered that synths can be burned by lasers. I thought, that if they can burn they can melt, and then _more_ synths attacked you, and I… I just panicked.” Irene kept babbling, but she couldn't stop. She'd been terrified when she'd seen Paladin Danse go under.  
“They were… destroyed, at least. The important thing is, we're still alive, and… we have a way to get the transmitter. Let's go.” The Paladin stood up slowly, looking stiff even for someone wearing power armor. He hit the call button for the elevator, the doors opening after a few seconds. They went up, and followed a hallway to a room.

The room was another one filled with synths. They opened fire, taking the mechanical beings unaware. There were only four, so they finished them off quickly. Paladin Danse walked through the room.  
“Dammit, I don't see the device anywhere! Fan out, and check the synths remains. They may have been after the transmitter as well.”  
They checked the desks, the filing cabinets, and the synths. They found the transmitter on the body of the second-to-last synth they search.  
“Well done,” the Paladin tells her, his voice full of pride and relief. They make their way to the elevator in the room, and take it all the way up. The doors open onto a concrete shed, behind the ArcJet building they'd entered.

Paladin Danse turned to Irene.  
“Well, that could have gone smoother, but mission accomplished.”  
“Smoother? I thought we did pretty good,” Irene protested.  
“That sweep was sloppy,” Paladin Danse retorted, “we were caught unprepared more than once. That is unacceptable.” He sighed, the sound tinny from his helmet. “However, your extra guns gave us the edge we needed. I'm not certain I could have accomplished the mission alone in there, or even with another person.”  
Irene smiled at him. “Yeah, we worked pretty well as a team.”  
The Paladin shifted his weight, dust rising up from where he moved his feet. “Agreed. It's… refreshing, to work with a civilian who can follow orders properly. That being said, I believe we have two important matters to discuss. First and foremost, if you'll hand me the Deep Range Transmitter, I'd like to properly compensate you for your assistance during this operation.”  
Irene handed him the transmitter, which he put into a bag clipped onto his armor. He handed her his rifle. “I think you'll find this weapon useful. It's my own, personal modification of the standard Brotherhood laser rifle. May it serve you well in battle.”  
Irene looked at the weapon in her hands. It was beautiful, especially by Commonwealth standards, and she could tell how much care had gone into it. “Are you sure? I don't want to leave you without a weapon.”  
“This isn't the only weapon at my disposal; Brotherhood soldiers always carry a backup. Besides, the pistol you've been using isn't good for longer ranges. Now, for the second matter… I wanted to make you a proposal. We had a lot thrown at us back there. Our op could have ended in disaster, but you kept your cool, and handled it like a soldier. There's no doubt in my mind that you have what it takes to join the Brotherhood. So, what do you say?”

Irene thought carefully about how to phrase things. Nick stood off to the side, quietly smoking a cigarette. “I really appreciate your offer, Paladin Danse. I know you don't make it lightly. There's a lot of things I need to do right now, though, and being offered a chance to join the Brotherhood of Steel is a big thing. I hope you don't mind if I think it over for a while, maybe get some things in order, before I give you a final answer?”  
“It's a big decision, so I understand your hesitation. I appreciate that you're considering it carefully; I've seen too many Initiates killed because they didn't understand what they were getting into. If you decide to become one of us, you know where we are. Good luck.” The soldier walked away, giving Dogmeat a very, very gentle pat on the head. He looked at Nick, but didn't say or do anything other than leave. Irene turned to Nick. She hoped he wouldn't say anything about her answer to the Paladin's question. She didn't think she'd ever join the Brotherhood, but she didn't want to get on their bad side. They could cause her a lot of trouble if she was.  
“Let's head back to Sanctuary, drop off all this stuff.” Despite the quickness of their search of ArcJet, Irene had been able to find some good salvage. And she didn't want to carry the Junk Jet around any longer than she had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thanks for continuing to read this story, and thanks to any new readers!
> 
> The Brotherhood is one of my least favorite factions in the game. I'd loved them in 3, but in this one, they're jerks.. Irene doesn't know that though.  
> Despite my dislike of the Brotherhood, I do like Danse. Irene likes him, too. Someone's got a little crush.  
> One of the options you have in the quest is to turn on a rocket engine, and basically melt the synths attacking Danse. Since power armor is metal, LOTS of metal, I figure that there's some heat shielding stuff in it, which is why Danse is only cooked a little rare, rather than shoe leather.
> 
> Thanks again for reading, and any mistakes are because I don't have a beta. Comments, kudos, and questions are always appreciated!


	20. Doing Good

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irene and Nick helped Paladin Danse, and head back to Sanctuary. Irene takes the opportunity to help out around there, and work on her gear. When Preston tells her a local farm needs the Minutemen's help, she's more than willing to go there. And when the job is done, our favorite synth detective makes sure his traveling companion is okay after the rough time she's had.

They got to Sanctuary just before twilight. None of the others had seen anything like the Junk Jet before. Sturges in particular was excited, but Irene made him promise not to destroy it just to see how it worked. He agreed, saying it would be a shame to destroy something so unique. Preston was glad to see Irene feeling better, telling her that, while he knew Valentine would take good care of her, he'd still been worried about her. Since it was so late, too late to go back to Diamond City, Irene and Nick decided to spend the night in Sanctuary.

The next morning, Sturges asked Irene if she could stay for a day or two. There were some things that needed fixing, things they needed just one more person to help with. Preston was focused on defending Sanctuary and building up the Minutemen. The Longs were focusing on the crops. Mama Murphy… well, she mostly slept the days away, or worked with the Longs. Sturges needed help, so Irene and Nick stayed. They worked on making the automated turrets run more smoothly, fixing the roof on one of the buildings, setting up a small forge, and myriad other tasks that had gone undone.

One of the houses next to Irene's old house became the main hub for Sanctuary. They set up the main room as a dining and cooking area. One of the bedrooms was turned into storage for salvage. Irene and Nick grabbed some boxes from the Red Rocket by the bridge; she spent the rest of the day organizing the scrap and salvage they had. Irene also took the opportunity to build a better backpack, this one with a metal frame to support more weight, and to add more pockets to her armor. She was getting a little tired of the leather armor; with all the guns that kept getting fired at her now, she wanted something more substantial. The metal armors she'd found were too ill-fitting to be much use, except for a metal collar-type thing she'd found for her neck. _Maybe combat armor would be better? I think Arturo had some last time I was there…_

Preston approached her in the storage room. “Irene, can I ask you something?”  
She stretched as she stood up from the box she'd been kneeling over. “Sure. What's up?”  
“There's a settlement nearby, a farm. It used to be allied with the Minutemen, before everything fell apart. They heard I was in the area, and asked if someone could help them. They're in trouble. They aren't far, but I don't want to leave Sanctuary undefended. Could you see what they need?”  
“Sure thing. I'm getting tired of sorting scrap anyway. I'll grab Nick and head out. Show me where they are?”

Using her Pip-Boy's map, Preston showed her where the farm was located. “It's a big farm, hard to miss. If you can get the Abernathy's to join again, they'd be able to convince a lot of other settlements to join, too. Tenpines Bluff was good, but they're small. Not many other places know them. With the Abernathy farm, the Minutemen will be on our way to growing again.”  
“That's definitely a good thing.” Irene left Preston and went to find Nick. She told him what was going on, and he was more than willing to accompany her. He made no secret of his approval of the Minutemen.

It took them half an hour to reach the farm, a short journey by Commonwealth standards. They went south after they hit the Red Rocket by the bridge, passing the old Concord water tower. The farm was impressive; it was nothing like Tenpines Bluff. The fields of tatos and melons were large and sprawling. A Brahmin was chewing food in a pen. The house was built around an old power pylon, and had to be at least three stories high. An older man, his face weathered and lined, came over to Irene and Nick.  
“That's close enough, stranger. We're a peaceful farm, don't want any trouble.” He eyed the two of them warily. Whatever trouble he was having, he was expecting more.  
“We're looking for Blake Abernathy. Preston Garvey, of the Minutemen, sent us.”  
“Oh, I'm sorry about that.” He shook their hands. “We're having trouble with raiders. They've been stealing our crops. Why do all the hard work when you can take it at gun point? They even… My daughter, Mary, she tried to stand up to them. We buried her out back behind the house. Just turned twenty-one years old, and they shot her without a second thought. That's why we need the Minutemen back, and the sooner, the better.  
“I agree with you there. Want us to wipe out the raiders for you?”  
“It'd be much appreciated. One thing though; they took Mary's locket when they killed her. Been in Connie's, my wife, family for generations, Pre-War even. I know it's a long shot, but if you could get it back for us, we'd be grateful.”  
“Don't worry. We'll get the locket back for you. I promise.”

***************************************************************************

The place where the raiders were holed up was an old satellite station, not far from Tenpines Buff. They got there just as the sun was setting. Irene loved the orange-pink-purple of the sunset. She was glad that one thing was just as beautiful as it was before the War. There were two raiders stationed outside, but Irene and Nick took them down easily. The raiders at Satellite Station Olivia were much the same as the raiders elsewhere. These ones, however, were smart enough to rig up a tesla arc and laser tripwire inside the station. Irene was able to disarm them both, thanks to lessons with Sturges and Preston about common traps raiders used.

The raiders were in a main room, talking.  
“Hey, Scotch, whaddaya get from the last haul?”  
“Tatos, corn, and a bunch of caps. Stupid fucks had three hundred caps, just lying around in a bag.”  
“Noticed you liked that guy there, the blond one. You have any fun with him?”  
“Don't know if he had fun, but I sure did!”  
They all laughed, and Irene wasn't going to listen to any more; she'd throw up if she did. She threw a couple Molotovs through the windows, and she and Nick picked off the raiders as they tried to put out the flames. More raiders ran in, attracted by the smell of burning flesh and clothes, but they had poor armor and no helmets.

A spray of bullets whizzed over Irene's head as she knelt to reload, barely missing her. Nick dropped down next to her, mostly unhurt.  
“Seems one of them's got a damned minigun. Couple bullets nicked my side.”  
The color drained from Irene's face. She looked through her belt and armor pouches; she knew she had another Molotov- there it was! She had Nick look through her pack, getting the mirror she'd found earlier. She waited until there was a pause in the bullets, then lifted the mirror up. She could see the raider in it. She carefully aimed the Molotov, and threw it. It hit the raider square in the chest, and they dropped the minigun, trying to put out the flames. Stop, drop, and roll was obviously something forgotten by now, because the raider didn't do it. They flailed about, only making the flames grow more. They screamed as they ran around. Irene and Nick stood up, spraying them with bullets. The screams turned to gurgles, and the gurgles turned to silence.

The raiders were all dead. Irene and Nick swept through the building, just to make sure no one was alive. They also looked for any useful salvage. This had been a military installation after all, there had to be some circuit boards or ballistic fiber here. They did find a fusion core in a generator, and Irene grabbed it to add to her growing collection. Her backpack was doing an excellent job; not only did it hold more, but it was more comfortable as well. _Maybe I should make one for Nick, too. He doesn't mind helping carry salvage for the settlements._

The final room was locked, and Irene had to pick it to open it. She wished she hadn't. Seven radroaches raced towards them. There was oil or fuel of some kind on the floor. Nick grabbed his lighter, flicked it on, and threw it onto the spill. A whoosh of flames roasted the radroaches. When the fire died out, Nick grabbed his lighter and closed it.  
“Good thinking. Out of all the Commonwealth pests, I think I hate radroaches and feral ghouls the most.” Irene shuddered. Radroaches were just plain disgusting.

In a toolbox, they finally found the silver locket. It fit Blake Abernathy's description perfectly. Irene put it in a pocket of her belt, not wanting to lose it in her backpack. She and Nick finished their search of the building, and headed out. They spent the night at Tenpines Bluff; Irene was tired, and needed to sleep. The settlers were more than happy to have her, glad that she'd wiped out more raiders so close to them. They gave Irene a large dinner, and a rather thick, comfortable mattress to sleep on.

The next morning, Irene and Nick headed back to the Abernathy farm. The hour and a half long walk passed quickly as they listened to the music on Diamond City Radio. They saw Blake Abernathy in the fields with his family. Irene walked up to him, smiling.  
“I've got that locket back for you.” She pulled it out of her belt, and handed it to him.  
“This… this is wonderful,” he said, tearing up as he reverently touched the silver pendant. “Connie's going to be speechless. We'll be happy to join the Minutemen again, and we'll let other settlements know that you're back.” He waved at Irene and Nick as they walked back to Sanctuary. Irene's heart felt lighter, having helped these people. They had no one to turn to, no one to help them. No one but the Minutemen. As they walked, Irene made up her mind to talk to Preston about what they could do to expand their presence across the Commonwealth.

**************************************************************

After the settlers had finished their dinner, Irene and Dogmeat sat on the sofa in the living room of the Rosa's house. No matter how long they'd been dead, she still thought of it as their house. Just like how she still thought of the house she'd lived in as her mom and dad's house. She was glad to see that no one had touched it. The group had been wary after her first breakdown, and they agreed when she asked them to leave that house, and everything in it, alone.

Pretty soon, Nick came in and joined her, sitting across in an armchair. After a few moments, he spoke. “Hey, could I talk to you for a minute?” His yellow eyes glowed in the dimness, but comforted Irene. They were just part of Nick.  
“Sure thing, Nick. What about?”  
“Well, it's just that, with everything that's happened to you, your family, Kellogg, it's a whole hell of a lot to process. I wanted to make sure you're holding up alright.”

Irene sighed; she'd been surprised that Nick hadn't pressed her more about this back in Diamond City, but she'd been grateful. With helping Paladin Danse, trying to find the Railroad, trying to figure out other ways to help people, she could avoid thinking about Shaun and everything else. “I have to focus on the here and now. I can't think about the past, or about the future. If I do, I know I'll fall apart. Maybe that isn't healthy, but I can't afford to have another breakdown. I had one before Fort Hagen, you know. Back when I helped Preston and the others in Concord, after we got here, I fell apart. It had only been about a day since I'd, well, thawed. But I have to focus on the now.”  
“Good attitude to have,” Nick said, leaning back in his chair and lighting a cigarette, “not the way I felt. Took me a long damn time to get a feel for this place. Thank goodness I found Diamond City. It's got its flaws, sure, but it beats the hell out of anywhere else in the Commonwealth. Course, when I took up there way back when, people were just as scared of the Institute as they are now, maybe more. The massacre of the CPG was still fresh in people's minds at that point, and folks were still losing sleep over the Broken Mask. But they couldn't exactly turn me away.”

Irene remembered reading about the Broken Mask incident in Piper's paper, where a synth killed a bunch of people in Diamond City, but she was a bit confused about the other incident. “The massacre of the CPG?” she queried.  
“The Commonwealth Provisional Government. Years back, every settlement with even a hint of clout sent a representative, to form a coalition. Only the Institute sent one of their own, a synth. Killed every rep at the talks. The CPG was over before it even got off the ground. I took up in town, not long after that. I was damn lucky they didn't just tell me to scram right then and there.”  
“You said they couldn't turn you away, even though they were scared?”  
Nick smiled. “That's right. See, the mayor at the time was a man by the name of Henry Roberts. His pride and joy was his daughter, gal of about fifteen. The young miss Roberts decided to run off with a caravan hand she'd… known for an evening. Trouble was, the guy was part of a gang of kidnappers. I stumbled across them, didn't even know who I was rescuing, just a crying girl surrounded by four toughs. I took her home, and the Mayor dubbed me a hero. Offered me a place in town and everything. Some folks protested, thought I was a spy, but he insisted. It was tricky, as first, but I never tried to hide what I was. People seemed to warm to that.”  
“Wait, wait, hold up. You took down four guys, by yourself, when they had a hostage?”  
Nick chuckled. “I didn't have to. Synths were even more of an unknown quantity back then than they are today. I told 'em I was rigged to explode, and started going “beep, beep, beep”. Hardest part of that rescue was trying not to laugh as they fell over themselves running away.”

Irene laughed and laughed; the image of Nick saying “beep” while some guys ran away was too clear, and too funny.  
“Was it hard, settling in?”  
Nick took a puff of his cigarette. “Well, they sure didn't make it easy. I did the jobs nobody else wanted to do. Got more banged up being Diamond City's handyman than I ever did wandering the Commonwealth. But, I guess folks never forgot I rescued the mayor's daughter. They started coming to me when people went missing. Wife run off with a new paramour and the rent money? Talk to the synth. An upset father decides that moving him and the kids to Goodneighbor in the dead of night's not the worst _damn_ idea since the bomb? Go get Nick. After a while, jobs got so backed up, they stopped asking me to do handyman work. Hell, I was so happy to do it, it was months before I started charging anyone. Never stopped being Nick the synth, but it was Nick the detective folks came to see.” Nick took another drag of his cigarette. “It was about then that things started feeling normal. Took me a long time to realize home's where you make it. Long story, but I hope it helps. Now, you should get some sleep. It'll take us a long time to get to Diamond City tomorrow.” He stood up, stubbing out his cigarette in the ashtray next to him. Irene got up, Dogmeat following her, and went to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, and thanks for reading! This is one of my shorter chapters, at a little over 2500 words. I hope y'all don't mind the varying chapter lengths. I've never been the best at making chapters.
> 
> Distances and timing for travel might be a bit off. I try to make it as close to what the game does as possible (I'm playing Irene as I write the story), but sometimes I get distracted, or can't remember what time I set out from X place.  
> I've noticed that Preston doesn't give a lot of Minutemen quests, unless you're the General. Since it wouldn't make sense for him to make Irene the General so quickly, I'm just going off of my list of settlements from other saves and basically seeing if they need help. But in-story, they've reached out to Preston for that help. :)
> 
> Thanks again for reading, and, as always, comments, questions, and kudos are always welcome! At least tell me if my dialogue skills are okay; I personally think I suck at it, but the only people I get feedback from are my friends (who are naturally biased to think it's great).


End file.
